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KU  KLUX  KLAN 

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SECRETS  EXPOSED 


Attitude  toward  Jews,  Catholics,  For- 
eigners and  Masons.  Fraudulent 
Methods  Used.    Atrocities 
Committed  in  Name 
of   Order. 


EZRA  A.  COOK,  Publisher 

(Incorporated) 

26  E.  Van  Buren  St.  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT  APPLIED 
FOR  1922 


Stack 


HS 
£330 


CONTENTS 

Page 

The  Old  Ku  Klux  Klan A  5 

The  New  Ku  Klux  Klan ....,„  21 

How  the  Modern  Ku  Klux  Klan  Was  Organized 25 

How  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  Gets  Members 29 

Oath  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan 32 

The  Old  Pledge  of  Loyalty ,.,..,  38 

Modern  Kleagles  Pledge  of  Loyalty 39 

How  the  Dollars  Roll  In 40 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  Jews ,..  43 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  Catholics 46 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  Masons 55 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  Negroes 58 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  Women 60 

Atrocities  Committed  in  the  Name  of  the  Order. .  62 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  SECRETS 
EXPOSED 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  OLD  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

To  the  old  Ku-Klux  Klan  which  rode  through  the  south 
in  the  days  following  the  civil  war  the  new  Ku-Klux  Klan 
is  a  relative  only  in  name. 

It  is  not  tied  by  blood.  It  holds  the  same  position  to  its 
southern  aristocratic  forbear  as  an  imposter  in  social  life 
does  to  some  illustrious  gentleman  of  the  same  name  of 
whom  he  claims  to  be  a  descendant. 

The  old  Ku-Klux  Klan  was  a  historical  development. 
The  new  is  a  man's  contrivance.  The  old  Ku-Klux  Klan 
movement  was  an  outcome  of  conditions  that  prevailed  in 
the  southern  states  after  the  war.  The  present  Klan,  ap- 
parently, is  an  outcome  of  a  group  of  men's  desire  to  make 
money. 

Widespread,  spontaneous,  popular,  the  movement  of  1866 
grew  out  of  a  disordered  society,  not  as  a  "movement"  at 
all  at  first,  but  as  a  scheme  for  having  fun,  a  source  of 
amusement  among  a  group  of  young,  full-blooded  southern 
men  to  puzzle  outsiders.  Its  use  as  a  weapon  against  the 
stranger  in  the  old  south  came  later. 

The  "stranger"  was  the  northern  carpetbagger.  To  the 
south  he  was  the  pestilence  that  follows  war.  He  was  the 
blunderer  who  entered  the  land  whose  social  customs  were 
unknown  to  him,  in  a  year  when  the  fabric  by  those  social 
customs  was  in  need  of  mending. 


6  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

NO  RELIGIOUS  TEST 

When  southern  society  seized  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  as  an 
instrument  with  which  to  resist  there  were  only  two 
classes,  carpet-bagger  and  unruly  negro,  against  which  it 
operated.  To  join  the  ranks  of  the  white-robed  horsemen, 
there  were  no  qualifications  of  religion.  The  Klan  made 
no  mention  of  Jew  or  Catholic.  Its  purpose  was  to  re- 
store order,  not  to  fan  prejudice,  and  therein  lies  the  dif- 
ference between  the  old  Klan  and  the  present  Klan  which 
makes  the  latter  a  maverick. 

The  first  unit  of  the  horseback  riding  knights  was 
founded  in  the  village  of  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  with  the  same  mo- 
tive for  its  organization  as  the  old-time  college  hazing  so- 
ciety. Its  members  were  young  men  who  had  come  back 
from  the  war,  poor,  exhausted,  discouraged,  and  bored 
with  the  tameness  of  a  country  town. 


HOW  IT  STARTED 

According  to  the  story  which  has  lived  south  of  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line  since  those  post-bellum  days,  a 
group  of  youths  cooling  their  heels  in  a  law  office  one  May 
evening  in  1866  organized  a  society  for  a  good  time.  If 
anyone  had  suggested  to  them  at  that  time  that  five 
years  later  a  committee  of  congress  would  devote  thirteen 
volumes  to  a  history  of  their  "movement"  and  pass  a  law 
to  suppress  it,  or  that  before  the  child  of  their  wits  was 
fully  grown  it  would  have  developed  into  a  terrorizing 
"hobgoblin"  sheeted  for  lawlessness,  they  would  have 
thought  it  a  jest. 

When  their  mere  joke  had  become  a  grim  joke,  neighbors 
who  feared  it  found  in  its  name  "Ku-Klux"  the  suggestion 
of  a  clicking  rifle.  But  the  name  itself  was  proposed  by 
its  charter  members  in  Tennessee  as  a  derivative  of  the 
Greek  word  "Kuklos,"  meaning  a  circle.  From  "Kuklos" 
to  "Ku-Klux"  was  an  easy  transition.  The  "Klan"  fol- 
lowed because  these  youthful  students  of  Greek  had  an  ear 
for  the  alliterative. 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  7 

From  the  Pulaski  law  office  the  society  migrated  to  a 
haunted  house  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village.  Its  members 
found  their  first  source  of  amusement  in  initiation  rites. 
They  named  their  chief  officer  a  Grand  Cyclops  and  their 
vice  president  a  Grand  Magi.  Other  officers  were  the 
Grand  Turk,  or  marshal ;  a  Grand  Exchequer  or  treasurer, 
and  two  Lictors. 


WORE  WHITE  MASKS 

The  only  germ  in  their  constitution  from  which  the  "Im- 
perial Wizard"  Simmons  of  the  twentieth  century  Klan 
could  breed  his  present  organization  was  the  promise  of 
absolute  secrecy.  For  his  copying  years  later,  the  first 
Klan  also  contrived  a  disguise.  It  consisted  of  a  white, 
mask,  a  tall  cardboard  hat,  a  gown  or  robe,  and  for  the 
night  riding  excursions,  a  cover  for  the  horses'  bodies  and 
mufflers  for  their  feet. 

Only  after  the  Pulaski  organization  had  entertained  it- 
self for  many  nights  did  the  phenomenon  present  itself 
which  was  to  make  the  Klan  a  weapon  in  the  progress  of 
post-war  reconstruction.  It  was  the  discovery  that  the 
African  negro  was  twice  as  fearful  of  mysticism  and  mys- 
tery as  the  white  man.  It  taught  the  white  men  of  Tennes- 
see and  neighboring  states  that  they  had  a  means  of  their 
own  of  preventing  what  they  considered  political  misman- 
agement and  social  insolence  in  the  control  by  northerners 
and  f  reedmen  of  the  state  government. 


BECOMES  MILITARY  ORGANIZATION 

The  Pulaski  riders  made  themselves  popular.  Young 
men  of  neighboring  towns  organized  brother  Klans.  When 
southern  society  found  itself  a  Humpty  Dumpty  fallen 
from  the  wall,  it  grasped  the  Pulaski  idea  as  the  means  for 
pulling  itself  up  again.  The  Klan  became  a  military  or- 
ganization, with  the  purpose  of  keeping  order  among  the 


8  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

negroes  by  intimidating  them.  Mysticism  in  the  order 
grew.  Humor  grew  with  it,  and  by  the  time  the  states  of 
the  north  discovered  that  the  south  had  an  organization 
which  was  in  purpose  a  society  of  regulators,  the  young 
southern  war  veterans  were  donning  their  white  robes  and 
cardboard  hats  with  a  human  skull  and  two  thigh  bones 
as  the  symbols  of  allegiance. 

The  oath  which  the  grand  cyclops  administered  has  been 
preserved  in  southern  diaries  and  documents.  It  was 
taken  in  a  solemn  manner  as  the  knights  were  grouped 
amid  the  bones.  The  oath  follows. 

"We  (or  I,  as  the  case  might  be)  do  solemnly  swear  before 
Almighty  God  and  these  witnesses,  and  looking  upon  these 
human  bones,  that  I  will  obey  and  carry  into  effect  every  order 
made  by  any  cyclops  or  assistant  cyclops,  and  if  I  fail  strictly 
to  conform  and  execute  every  order  made,  as  above  required 
of  me,  unless  I  am  prevented  from  some  cause  which  shall  be 
no  fault  of  mine,  or  if  I  shall  give  any  information  to  any 
person  or  persons  except  members  of  this  order,  that  the 
doom  of  all  traitors  shall  be  meted  out  to  me,  and  that  my 
bones  may  become  as  naked  and  dry  as  the  bones  I  am  looking 
upon.  And  I  take  this  oath  voluntarily,  without  any  mental 
reservation  or  evasion  whatever,  for  the  causes  set  out  in  said 
order,  so  help  me  God." 

Ku-Klux  horsemen  who  rode  white-sheeted  through  the 
south  in  the  nights  of  1866  regarded  themselves  as  up- 
holders of  sectional  patriotism. 

They  considered  themselves  the  spiritual  descendants  of 
the  New  Englanders  who  threw  the  English  tea  overboard 
into  Boston  harbor  nearly  100  years  before.  Their  pro- 
tests, and  the  acts  of  intimidation  by  which  they  enforced 
their  protests  were  against  the  white  "carpetbagger"  from 
the  north,  the  negro  freedman  to  whom  liberty  meant  ar- 
rogant office-holding,  and  the  "scalawag,"  by  which  terms 
they  designated  those  deserters  from  the  southern  aristoc- 
racy who  had  joined  the  ranks  of  the  northern  stranger. 

The  second  stage  came  within  a  year  after  the  secret 
body  had  its  birth,  when  the  band  of  burlesquers  became 
«  band  of  regulators. 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  9 

To  the  south,  the  reconstruction  acts  which  congress 
passed  in  1867  were  pernicious.  The  one-time  white  con- 
federate soldier  believed  that  the  congressional  legislation 
made  official  mismanagement  permanent.  He  saw  negroes 
organized  into  the  militia.  He  saw  his  former  slaves  vot- 
ing twice  and  thrice  at  elections  where  he  himself  had  to 
pass,  literally,  under  bayonets  to  reach  the  polls.  He  dis- 
liked the  freedman's  bureau,  which  substituted  northern 
alien  machinery  for  the  old  patriarchal  relation  between 
white  employer  and  black  employe.  He  heard  drunken 
negroes  at  his  gates  in  the  night.  He  saw  the  "carpet- 
bagger" urging  upon  the  freedman  civic  rights  which  he 
knew  the  latter  was  not  educated  enough  to  perform. 


FIRST  OBJECTS  POLITICAL 

These  were  the  prejudices  against  which  the  original 
Ku-Klux  Klan  threw  itself.  They  were  surface  indications 
of  an  historical  development.  They  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  racial  and  religious  biases  which  the  present  Klan  at- 
tempted to  propagate.  To  the  present  Klan,  the  old  Klan, 
in  its  first  stage,  was  unrelated.  In  its  second  stage  it  was 
related  only  in  its  methods  of  terrorism  and  its  removal 
of  justice  from  the  courts  to  the  masques  until  its  own 
leaders  were  powerless  to  check  it. 

The  Klan  early  fell  a  victim  to  the  abuses  inseparable 
from  secrecy.  It  happened  that  Tennessee,  the  birthplace 
of  the  hooded  institution,  was  also  the  first  southern  state 
to  find  itself  turned  upside  down  in  reconstruction.  "Dem 
Ku-Kluxes,"  as  the  negro  called  the  mysterious  union,  be- 
came a  band  of  regulators.  Their  first  official  convention 
was  held  in  Nashville  early  in  1867. 

The  Klan,  which,  until  then,  had  been  bound  together 
only  by  the  deference  which  priority  rights  gave  to  the 
grand  cyclops  of  the  parental  Pulaski  "den,"  was  organized 
into  the  "Invisible  Empire  of  the  South."  It  was  ruled  by 
a  grand  wizard  of  the  whole  empire,  a  grand  dragon  of 
each  realm,  or  state,  a  grand  titan  of  each  dominion,  or 


10  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

county,  a  grand  cyclops  of  each  den,  and  staff  officers  with 
names  as  equally  suggestive  of  Arabian  Nights. 


LAWS  DEFINE  OBJECTS 

For  the  first  time  its  laws  defined  serious  objects.  First 
was  the  duty  of  protecting  people,  presumably  white  south- 
erners, from  indignities  and  wrongs;  second  was  the  duty 
of  succoring  the  suffering,  particularly  among  the  families 
of  dead  confederate  soldiers ;  finally  was  the  oath  to  defend 
"the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  all  laws  passed 
in  conformity  thereto,"  and  of  the  states  also,  to  aid  in 
executing  all  constitutional  laws,  and  to  protect  the  people 
from  unlawful  seizures  and  from  trial  otherwise  than  by 
jury. 

It  is  these  purposes  which  Imperial  Wizard  Simmons  of 
the  modern  clan  pretends  to  perpetuate,  plus  persecutions 
of  Jews,  Catholics  and  negroes,  while  denying  charges  of 
terrorizing  outbreaks. 

The  Nashville  convention  chose  Gen.  Nathan  B.  Forrest, 
the  confederate  cavalry  leader,  as  its  supreme  ruler.  He 
is  known  to  have  increased  the  membership  of  the  hooded 
horsemen  in  the  old  south  to  550,000.  Among  his  aids 
were  Generals  John  B.  Gordon,  A.  H.  Colquitt,  G.  T.  An- 
derson, A.  B.  Lawton,  W.  J.  Hardee,  John  C.  Brown, 
George  W.  Gordon  and  Albert  Pike.  The  latter  became  one 
of  the  foremost  authorities  of  Masonry. 

Terrorism  spread,  until  during  the  political  campaign 
which  preceded  the  1868  presidential  election,  2,000  per- 
sons were  killed  and  injured  in  Louisiana  by  Ku-Klux 
Klansmen,  who  rode  at  night,  disguised  as  freebooters,  and 
according  to  James  G.  Elaine,  defeated  candidate  for  the 
presidency  at  a  later  date,  hesitated  at  no  cruelty. 

In  the  north,  in  the  years  immediately  after  the  civil 
war,  the  original  Ku-Klux  Klan  was  called  a  conspiracy. 

In  the  south,  where  society  was  being  ground  in  the  mills 
of  reconstruction,  the  Klan  started  its  midnight  rovings  as 
an  instrument  of  moral  force.  But  within  three  years  its 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  11 

period  of  usefulness,  as  the  white  southerner  saw  it  useful, 
was  over. 

Its  founders  had  played  with  it  as  with  an  exciting  bon- 
fire. During  the  months,  however,  when  former  confed- 
erate soldiers  used  it  to  frighten  away  northern  officehold- 
ers with  oppressive  tactics,  it  had  leaped  in  size  until  when 
the  moment  came  for  smothering  it  out  its  leaders  dis- 
covered it  beyond  control. 

Not  until  the  full  fire  department  of  federal  and  state 
law  had  been  called  out  did  the  Invisible  Empire  cease  to 
operate. 

TENNESSEE  ACTS  AGAINST  IT 

By  1872  the  white-robed  knights  of  midnight,  whose 
purpose  to  enforce  law  had  in  itself  yielded  to  lawlessness, 
were  for  the  most  part  disappeared.  But  so,  in  one  state 
after  another,  had  the  northern  carpetbagger  and  the 
southern  scalawag. 

Tennessee,  where  the  Klan  was  founded,  was  the  first 
to  take  legislative  action  against  it.  In  September,  1868, 
its  legislature  passed  a  statute  making  membership  in  the 
Klan  punishable  by  a  fine  of  $500  and  imprisonment  for 
not  less  than  five  years. 

As  a  result,  in  February,  1869,  Gen.  Nathan  B.  Forrest, 
former  cavalry  officer  of  the  confederate  army,  who  was 
grand  wizard  of  the  order,  officially  proclaimed  the  Ku- 
Klux  Klan  and  Invisible  Empire  dissolved  and  disbanded 
forever. 

But  members  of  the  adventurous  law-assuming  organ- 
ization were  reluctant  to  yield  their  mysterious  power. 

The  wizard's  order  went  into  effect.  Klan  property  was 
burned. 


NEW  BANDS  SPRING  UP 

neighborhood  groups  only,  some  of  them  bands  of  ruffians 
But  immediately  in  southern  states,  as  far  west  as  Ar- 
kansas, there  sprang  up  disguised  bands,  some  of  them 


12  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

who  traveled  in  the  night  to  win  personal  ends,  still  others 
new  orders  founded  in  imitation  of  the  Ku-Klux  and  using 
similar  methods. 

Of  the  last,  the  Knights  of  the  White  Camellia  was  the 
largest.  In  some  private  notebooks  of  the  south  its  mem- 
bership was  said  to  be  even  larger  than  the  parent  Klan. 

From  New  Orleans  early  in  1868,  it  spread  across  to 
Texas  and  back  to  the  Carolinas.  Racial  supremacy  was 
its  purpose. 

Only  white  men  18  years  or  older  were  invited  to  the 
secrets  of  its  initiation,  and  in  their  oath  they  promised 
not  only  to  be  obedient  and  secret,  but  to  "maintain  and 
defend  the  social  and  political  superiority  of  the  white  race 
on  this  continent." 

Initiates  were  enjoined,  notwithstanding,  to  show  fair- 
ness to  the  negroes  and  to  concede  to  them  in  the  fullest 
measure  "those  rights  which  we  recognize  as  theirs." 


"PALE  FACES"  AND  OTHERS 

Other  bands  of  nightriders  responded  to  the  names  of 
"Pale  Faces,"  "White  Leaguers,"  the  "White  Brotherhood" 
and  the  "Constitutional  Union  Guards." 

Surviving  members  are  hazy  as  to  their  aims  and  meth- 
ods, the  character  of  their  membership,  their  members,  and 
the  connection  between  them. 

Federal  recognition  that  the  Invisible  Empire,  whether 
it  was  the  original  Klan  or  not,  was  everywhere  a  real  em- 
pir«  came  in  the  spring  of  1871,  when  a  senate  committee 
presented  majority  and  minority  reports  on  the  result  of 
its  investigations  of  the  white  man's  will  to  rule  against 
the  freedmen's  militia  in  the  south. 

The  majority  report  found  that  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  was  a 
criminal  conspiracy  of  a  distinctly  political  nature  against 
the  laws  and  against  the  colored  citizens. 

The  minority  found  that  Ku-Klux  disorder  and  violence 
was  due  to  misgovernment  and  an  exploitation  of  the  state? 
below  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  by  radicals. 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  13 

CONGRESS  ACTS  AGAINST  KLAN 

The  first  Ku-Klux  bill  was  passed  in  April,  1871,  "to  en- 
force the  fourteenth  amendment."  Power  of  the  president 
to  use  troops  to  put  down  the  white-hooded  riders  was 
hinted  at. 

In  the  next  month  the  second  Ku-Klux  bill  was  passed  to 
enforce  "the  right  of  citizens  in  the  United  States  to  vote." 

In  1872  federal  troops  were  sent  into  the  south  to  back 
up  his  anti-Ku-Klux  proclamation.  By  the  end  of  1872  the 
"conspiracy"  was  thought  to  be  overthrown. 

At  various  times  individuals  in  the  south  and  elsewhere 
have  tried  to  put  breath  into  the  Klan's  dead  body. 

It  was  left  for  "Grand  Wizard"  Simmons  of  Atlanta  to 
accomplish  it.  His  new  organization,  he  explains,  is  im- 
bued with  the  Ku-Klux  "spirit." 

"That  this  spirit  may  live  always  to  warm  the  hearts  of 
many  men,"  he  says,  "is  the  paramount  ideal  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Ku-Klux  Klan." 

President  Grant  answered :  "Thou  shalt  not"  to  the  Ku- 
Klux  Klan  in  1871.  He  backed  up  his  word  with  armed 
troops. 

During  the  whole  of  one  session  of  congress  senators  and 
representatives  serving  in  Washington  in  the  years  just 
after  the  civil  war  occupied  themselves  in  stripping  the 
masques  off  the  southern  night-riders. 

Into  the  country  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  they 
dispatched  congressional  investigators,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  enter  the  "portals  of  the  invisible  empire"  and  discover 
what  was  hiding  behind  them.  When  they  reported  that 
the  Ku-Klux  Klan,  decked  out  in  the  uniform  of  ghosts, 
was  waging  midnight  warfare  on  the  negro  and  carpet- 
bagger congress  passed  legislation  which  suppressed  the 
order. 

PUTS  ROBES  OUT  OF  FASHION 

the  committee  recorded  the  results  of  their  investigation 
Action  was  quick.    Almost  before  the  government  print- 
ing presses  had  finished  turning  out  ten  volumes  in  which 


14  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

the  white  robes  and  hoods  of  the  Ku-Kluxes  had  gone  out 
of  fashion  in  the  old  south. 

President  Grant  in  1871  was  without  precedent.  His 
law  enforcers,  just  getting  acquainted  with  the  amendment 
which  freed  the  slaves,  were  without  a  statute  to  deal  with 
the  armed  clique  which  proposed  to  keep  the  negro  down 
in  the  day  by  frightening  him  in  the  night.  The  emergency 
bill  which  congress  passed  at  that  period  empowers  the 
regular  army  or  the  navy  to  put  down  any  unlawful  com- 
bination which  is  doing  domestic  violence. 

When  congress  met  for  its  forty-second  session  in  1871, 
the  cross  bones  and  skull  and  coffin  with  which  the  Ku-Klux 
were  marking  their  threats  had  become  the  symbols  of 
terrorism  in  the  south.  So  grave  was  the  situation  that 
speakers  on  the  floor  of  the  house,  when  the  session  opened, 
classed  the  conspiracy  of  the  Klan  "less  formidable,  but  not 
less  dangerous  to  American  liberty"  than  the  just-ended 
war  of  the  rebellion.  They  charged  that  as  well  as  binding 
its  members  to  execute  crimes  against  its  opponents  in  the 
social-political  life  of  the  south,  it  protected  them  against 
conviction  and  punishment  by  perjury  on  the  witness  stand 
and  in  the  jury  box.  Representatives  asked  why,  of  all 
offenders,  not  one  had  been  convicted. 


PRESIDENT  URGES  ACTION 

On  March  23,  1871,  President  Grant  sent  a  message  to 
both  houses  in  which  he  recommended  that  all  other  busi- 
ness be  postponed  until  the  Klan  was  made  subservient  to 
the  flag. 

"A  condition  of  affairs  now  exists  in  some  of  the  states 
of  the  Union  rendering  life  and  property  insecure  and  the 
carrying  of  the  mails  and  the  collection  of  revenue  danger- 
ous," his  message  said.  "The  proof  that  such  a  condition 
of  affairs  exists  in  some  localities  is  now  before  the  senate. 
That  the  power  to  correct  these  evils  is  beyond  the  control 
of  the  senate  authorities  I  do  not  doubt ;  that  the  power  of 
the  executive  of  the  United  States,  acting  within  the  limits 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  15 

of  existing  laws  is  sufficient  for  present  emergencies,  is  not 
clear.  Therefore,  I  urgently  recommend  such  legislation 
as  in  the  judgment  of  congress  shall  effectually  secure,  life, 
liberty  and  property  and  the  enforcement  of  law  in  all 
parts  of  the  United  States.  It  may  be  expedient  to  provide 
that  such  law  as  shall  be  passed  in  pursuance  of  this  recom- 
mendation shall  expire  at  the  end  of  the  next  session  of 
congress.  There  is  no  other  subject  on  which  I  would  rec- 
ommend legislation  during  the  present  session." 


"FORCE  BILL  AT  DISPOSAL" 

The  law  which  was  at  the  disposal  of  President  Hard- 
ing was  popularly  known  as  "the  Force  bill."  Under  con- 
gressional passage  it  was  entitled  "An  act  to  enforce  the 
Fourteenth  amendment  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  for  other  purposes."  President  Grant  approved 
it  April  20,  1871. 

It  is  aimed  at  two  or  more  persons  who  conspire  to  use 
force  and  intimidation  "outside  the  law."  It  forbids  them 
to  go  in  disguise  along  a  public  highway  or  upon  the  prem- 
ises of  another  person  for  the  purpose,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  of  depriving  that  person  of  equal  privileges 
under  the  law.  Punishment  for  the  offense  may  be  impris- 
onment from  six  months  to  six  years,  a  fine  not  less  than 
$500,  nor  more  than  $5,000,  or  both. 

The  act  took  particular  action  against  the  practice  of  the 
Klanists  of  protecting  each  other  in  court.  It  provides 
that  every  man  called  for  service  on  a  jury  in  a  Klan  case 
shall  take  oath  in  open  court  that  he  is  not  a  member  of 
nor  has  ever  aided  or  advised  any  such  "unlawful,  com- 
bination or  conspiracy." 


DISGUISE  IS  BARRED 

That  individual  was  declared  a  violator  of  the  law  who 
shall  "go  in  disguise  upon  the  public  highway  or  upon  the 


16  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

premises  of  another  for  the  purpose,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, of  depriving  any  person  or  class  of  persons  of  the 
equal  protection  of  the  laws,  or  of  equal  privileges  or  im- 
munities under  the  laws,  or  by  force,  intimidation  or  threat 
to  prevent  any  citizen  lawfully  entitled  to  vote  from  giving 
his  support  or  advocacy  in  a  lawful  manner  toward  the 
election  of  any  lawfully  qualified  person  for  office." 

The  act  states  further:  "That  in  all  cases  where  insur- 
rection, domestic  violence,  unlawful  combinations  or  con- 
spiracies in  any  state  shall  so  obstruct  or  hinder  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws  thereof,  and  of  the  United  States,  as  to 
deprive  any  portion  or  class  of  the  people  of  any  rights, 
privileges  or  immunities  or  protection,  and  the  constituted 
authorities  of  such  state  shall  either  be  unable  to  protect, 
or  shall  fail  in  or  refuse  protection,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for 
the  president,  and  it  shall  be  his  duty,  to  take  such  meas- 
ures by  the  employment  of  the  militia  or  the  land  and  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States  for  the  suppression  of  such  in- 
surrection." 


"KU-KLUX"  PILLS  RECORDS 

Pages  of  the  Congressional  Globe,  as  the  present  Con- 
gressional Record  was  then  called,  were  filled  during  the 
months  before  the  passage  of  this  act  with  the  word  "Ku- 
Klux." 

The  verb  "Kukluxed"  became  in  the  mouths  of  senators 
and  representatives  arguing  over  the  bill  a  synonym  for 
"intimidated."  Friends  of  the  nightriders  termed  them 
"modern  knights  of  the  Round  Table,"  and  "conservators 
of  law  and  order."  Opponents  on  the  floor  of  the  house 
advocated  a  policy  of  "amnesty  for  every  rebel,  hanging 
for  every  Ku-Klux." 

Black  and  white  victims  of  the  gun-toting  ghosts  were 
brought  from  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Texas  and 
other  states  where  the  Klan  rode  to  recount  before  the  con- 
gressional committee  the  details  of  their  persecutions. 
Their  accounts  as  the  government  documents  preserve 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  17 

them  might  well  have  been  a  primer,  it  has  been  said,  for 
the  acts  of  later  Lenines  and  Trotzkys. 


REPORT  OF  OFFENSES  VARIES 

The  report  of  the  congressional  committee  is  a  recital 
varying  from  mirth  to  murder.  In  one  county  the  victim 
of  the  hooded  Klan  might  be  an  itinerant  minister  who  had 
offended  by  teaching  a  negro  mammy  to  pray.  Next  door 
a  Ku-Klux  sign,  with  a  coffin  painted  in  blood,  might  be 
hung  over  the  dead  body  of  a  "bad"  negro  whose  freedom 
had  made  him  officious. 

One  negro  was  whipped  for  stealing  a  beef.  Another 
was  tarred  and  feathered  because  his  daughter  ran  away 
from  the  white  man  who  had  employed  her. 

Colored  cooks  were  beaten  for  talking  saucily  to  their 
southern  mistresses.  Northern  white  women  were  threat- 
ened for  hiring  colored  cooks. 


IGNORES  NOTE,  DIES 

When  a  negro  ignored  a  note  carrying  the  Ku-Klux  skull 
and  cross  bones  and  voted  "republican"  instead  of  "con- 
servative," his  body,  ornamented  with  skull  and  bones  in 
blood,  might  be  found  the  next  morning  in  the  middle  of 
the  road — lifeless. 

The  congressional  minutes  report  a  bold,  public  display 
of  the  Klan's  official  orders.  They  might  appear  in  a  whisk 
of  the  wind  on  the  post  office  window.  They  might  be 
pinned  on  a  tree  or  pole  or  building.  On  one  occasion, 
when  a  member  of  the  Klan  was  on  trial  in  a  county  court, 
a  band  of  white  masquers,  riding  through  the  courtyard  on 
horse,  dropped  a  note  addressed  to  the  court,  grand  jury 
and  sheriff. 

"Go  slow,"  it  commanded.  At  the  bottom  was  a  drawing 
of  a  coffin  and  on  each  side  a  rope.  The  signature  was  "K. 
K.  K." 


18  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

Ku-Klux  rule  in  the  south  half  a  century  ago  was  an  at- 
tempt to  govern  by  masque. 

Secret  covenants  arrived  at  by  a  sheeted  brotherhood, 
veiled  signs,  orders  written  in  blood  and  posted  at  mid- 
night on  the  victim's  door — by  such  means  did  the  Klan 
substitute  the  masque  for  the  ballot. 

Congressional  investigating  committees  who  stripped  the 
night-riding  organization  of  secrecy  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Grant,  were  entertained  during  a  ses- 
sion of  congress  by  tales  of  lares  and  lemures  howling  at 
night  in  fields  or  on  crossroads,  bad  luck  omens  for  the 
negroes. 


UNDER  MARTIAL  LAW 

In  organization  the  Klan  was  military,  and  its  town, 
county  and  state  rule,  as  recorded  in  the  Congressional 
Globe,  operated  as  under  martial  law. 

As  the  revolt  of  the  white  southerner  to  colored  and 
northern  domination  reared  itself  into  giant-size,  towns 
under  Klan  domination  came  to  take  their  rule  and  law 
from  the  K.  K.  K.  note,  flapping  in  the  wind  on  a  tree  or 
fencepost,  with  the  coffin  on  its  signature,  urging  that  it 
be  obeyed. 


WARN  CARPET  BAGGERS 

In  South  Carolina,  according  to  the  report  of  the  federal 
committee,  townsfolk  journeyed  to  the  postoffice,  not  to  get 
their  mail,  but  to  read  the  daily  Ku-Klux  bulletin.  One 
such,  reprinted  in  the  ten-volume  report  of  the  committee 
which  examined  southern  outrages,  was  a  warning  against 
further  "carpet  bagger"  administration.  It  is  as  follows: 

Headquarters,  Ninth  Division,  S.  C. 
Special  Orders,  No.  3,  K.  K.  K. 

Ignorance  is  the  curse  of  God. 

For  that  reason  we  are  determined  that  members  of  the 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  19 

legislature,  the  school  committee  and  the  county  commis- 
sioners of  Union  county  shall  no  longer  officiate. 

Fifteen  days'  notice  from  this  date  is  given,  and  if  they, 
and  all,  do  not  at  once  and  forever  resign  their  present  in- 
human, disgraceful  and  outrageous  rule,  then  retributive 
justice  will  as  surely  be  used  as  night  follows  day. 

By  order  of  the  Grand  Chief, 

A.  0.,  Grand  Secretary. 


THREATEN  NEGROES  FOR  FIRES 

Another  "special  order,"  this  one  warning  that  the  col- 
ored race  in  general  would  be  punished  for  all  malicious 
fires  in  particular,  was  made  public  in  the  Charleston 
News,  Jan.  31,  1871. 

Headquarters,  K.  K.  K. 
January  22,  1871. 

Resolved:  That  in  all  cases  of  incendiarism,  ten  of  the 
leading  colored  people  and  two  white  sympathizers  shall 
be  executed. 

That  if  any  armed  bands  of  colored  people  are  found 
hereafter  picketing  the  roads,  the  officers  of  the  company 
to  which  the  pickets  belong  shall  be  executed. 

Southern  speakers  on  the  floor  of  the  house  in  the  de- 
bates which  preceded  the  passage  of  the  "act  to  enforce  the 
fourteenth  amendment,"  traced  the  origin  of  the  Ku-Klux 
to  the  Union  league,  an  association  in  the  south  composed 
chiefly  of  northerners.  Charges  were  also  made  by  states- 
men once  in  the  confederate  army  that  "Tammany  Hall"  in 
New  York  furnished  arms  to  the  Klanists,  in  order  that 
they  might  murder  southern  republicans. 


SUPPRESSED  IN  1871 

When  the  act  suppressing  the  Klan  was  approved  by 
President  Grant  on  April  20,  1871,  it  was  estimated  that 
the  night  riders  were  operating  in  eleven  states  of  the 
south.  Six  months  later,  in  October,  President  Grant  is- 


20  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

sued  a  proclamation  calling  on  members  of  illegal  associa- 
tions in  nine  counties  in  South  Carolina  to  disperse  and 
surrender  their  arms  and  disguises  in  five  days. 

Five  days  afterwards,  another  proclamation  was  issued 
suspending  the  privileges  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in 
the  counties  named.  More  than  200  persons  were  arrested 
within  a  few  days.  It  is  believed  that  the  Ku-Klux  Klan 
was  practically  overthrown  by  the  middle  of  the  following 
January. 


CHAPTER  H 
THE  NEW  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

Must  Every  Citizen  be  a  Slave  of  Fear  Spread  by 
Masked  Night-Riders,  or  Will  He  Live  under  the 
Protection  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States? 

Are  you  a  citizen  of  the  United  States?  If  you  are  it  is 
to  your  interest  to  inform  yourself  about  the  Ku-Klux 
Klan.  As  a  citizen  you  are  under  the  protection  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  Ku  Klux  Klan  has 
set  itself  above  the  constitution.  It  has  made  laws  of  its 
own.  Its  members  have  inaugurated  a  reign  of  lawless- 
ness that  may  drag  you  out  of  your  bed  at  midnight  and 
submit  you  to  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers  through  the  whims 
of  some  neighbor  who  does  not  like  the  country  in  which 
you  were  born,  or  who  objects  to  your  religion,  your  color, 
your  opinions,  your  personal  habits  or  anything  else  about 
you  that  does  not  suit  his  fancy. 

The  constitution  guarantees  that  your  house,  your  per- 
son and  your  papers  and  effects  are  free  from  unlawful 
search  and  seizure;  that  you  cannot  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty  or  property  without  due  process  of  law,  which  law 
must  be  publicly  enforced  in  God's  sunshine  by  persons 
legally  chosen ;  that  when  you  are  accused  of  any  delin- 
quency or  crime  you  shall  have  a  speedy,  public  trial  be- 
fore a  judge  and  an  impartial  jury;  that  you  may  be  a 
member  of  any  religious  denomination  or  sect  with  whom 
you  may  worship  as  you  please ;  that  you  have  the  right  of 
free  speech;  that  you  cannot  be  held  in  involuntary  servi- 
tude except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  for  which  you  have 
been  found  guilty  in  a  legal  way ;  that  you  cannot  be  denied 
the  right  to  vote  on  account  of  your  color. 

21 


22  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

MASKED  MEN  DEFY  CONSTITUTION 

Masked  riders  of  the  night  disagree  with  these  guar- 
antees of  freedom.  They  break  into  your  house  under 
cover  of  darkness  unlawfully  seize  your  person  and  ride 
away  with  you,  depriving  you  of  liberty  without  due  proc- 
ess of  law.  They  accuse  you  of  charges  that  may  or  may 
not  be  true,  without  giving  you  the  opportunity  of  knowing 
the  identity  of  your  accusers,  because  they  are  masked. 
They  try  you  without  giving  you  a  chance  to  defend  your- 
self. They  make  themselves  accuser,  judge,  jury  and  ex- 
ecutioner. They  deny  that  you  have  the  right  to  worship 
God  as  you  please.  They  deny  your  right  to  free  speech, 
because  they  forbid  you  to  criticise  what  they  do. 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  clamps  involuntary  servitude  on  its 
own  members  by  making  them  take  oaths  to  uphold  their 
leaders,  even  when  they  violate  the  constitution.  It  aims 
to  place  those  whom  it  opposes  under  its  heel.  It  openly 
defies  the  article  of  the  constitution  that  guarantees  race 
equality,  by  binding  its  members  to  put  the  black  race 
under  the  supremacy  of  the  white. 

The  American  constitution  says  that  if  you  were  born 
abroad,  but  have  become  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  you  have  as  many  rights  here  as  though  you  were 
actually  born  here.  The  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  against  the  con- 
stitution on  that  point.  The  Ku  Klux  Klan  wants  to  make 
the  foreigner  a  serf. 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  has  set  itself  up  as  a  regulator  of 
morals.  Persons  against  whom  there  has  been  neighbor- 
hood gossip  have  been  tarred  and  feathered.  Thanks  to 
the  New  York  World,  court  records  have  been  published 
showing  that  some  of  the  highest  persons  in  the  Ku  Klux 
have  been  involved  in  proceedings  as  disgraceful  as  those 
for  which  tar  and  feather  parties  have  been  organized  by 
the  Klan  or  persons  masquerading  as  Ku  Klux. 

MISTREAT  WHITES  AND  BLACKS 

Men  and  women,  white  and  black — have  been  mistreated 
by  masked  men.  The  number  of  these  attacks  grows  as  the 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  23 

Klan  increases  in  size.  At  present  the  Klan  has  branches 
in  all  states  of  the  union  except  three — New  Hampshire, 
Montana  and  Utah.  In  each  state  the  law  would  be  en- 
forced by  legal  officials  against  any  persons  guilty  of  crime 
if  public  spirited  citizens  would  make  it  their  business  to 
assist  public  officials  to  round  up  law  breakers.  The  Klan, 
however,  believes  in  its  own  method  of  punishment  against 
those  whom  it  opposes.  It  protects  its  own  members  and 
there  is  no  case  on  record  where  a  Klansman  has  been  out- 
raged. The  Klan  has  one  law  for  itself  and  another  for  its 
victims.  The  revelations  of  scandal  among  its  leaders  have 
not  resulted  in  any  movement  on  the  part  of  its  members 
to  "clean  house."  Its  motto  seems  to  be  "A  Klansman  can 
do  no  wrong."  The  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  the  revela- 
tions is  that  those  in  high  places  in  the  Klan  have  played 
on  the  gullibility  of  tens  of  thousands  of  otherwise  sen- 
sible Americans.  These  leaders  have  become  rich  by  deal- 
ing in  the  hocuspocus  of  mysticism,  secret  rites  and  high 
sounding  phrases  and  by  inflaming  the  passions  of  dupes 
by  false  stories  involving  religions  and  races. 

In  the  south  they  have  preached  and  conspired  against 
the  negroes.  This  hatred  also  has  been  carried  into  certain 
sections  of  large  cities  of  the  north  where  there  are  large 
negro  populations.  In  some  states  they  have  played  upon 
the  feelings  of  those  who  might  be  drawn  into  the  Klan 
by  a  crusade  against  Catholics.  They  have  made  use  of 
counterfeit  documents  in  secret  bids  for  membership  on 
this  score.  In  cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago,  where 
the  populations  are  largely  Jewish,  they  have  fanned  the 
flames  of  religious  hatred  by  propaganda  against  the  Jews. 
Where  foreign-born  residents  are  living  in  large  numbers 
the  Klan  has  secretly  intrigued  against  them.  On  the  Pa- 
cific coast  this  propaganda  is  made  against  the  Japanese; 
on  the  eastern  seaboard  it  has  been  against  persons  born  in 
European  and  Asiatic  countries. 


24  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

A  GOLD  MINE  FOR  PROMOTERS 

Those  who  have  investigated  the  Klan  are  convinced  that 
its  principal  promoters  are  not  inspired  by  a  zeal  for  the 
welfare  of  the  United  States,  but  on  the  other  hand  they 
are  certain  that  the  promoters  are  in  the  Ku  Klux  Klan 
business  to  make  money  out  of  it;  that  they  have  profited 
by  millions  of  dollars  and  that  for  this  filthy  money  they 
have  spread  loose  seeds  of  discontent  and  disorder  that 
must  be  raked  out  of  the  body  politic  by  the  united  action 
of  all  patriotic  organizations  and  individuals.  As  far  as 
its  chief  protagonists  are  concerned  the  Ku  Klux  is  a  huge 
money-making  hoax — a  gold  mine.  The  poor  dupes  who 
have  been  "soaked"  for  regalia  and  dues  will  wake  up  some 
time  and  discover  how  they  have  been  deluded  and  misled. 
In  the  meantime,  however,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  true 
American  to  inform  himself  about  the  Klan  so  that  in 
whatever  way  may  come  to  his  lot  he  may  counteract  the 
terrible  consequences  of  its  teachings  and  practices. 


CHAPTER  HI 

HOW  THE  MODERN  KU  KLUX  KLAN  WAS  OR- 
GANIZED 

Something  about  those  who  sit  in  judgment  on  the 
affairs  of  the  ''Invisible  Empire";  their  troubles 
in  court. 

William  J.  Simmons  (who  carries  a  bogus  title  as 
"colonel")  is  the  "Imperial  Wizard"  of  the  "Invisible  Em- 
pire, Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan."  He  organized  the 
masked  men  on  Thanksgiving  night  in  1915.  Some  of  the 
organizers  associated  with  him  had  belonged  to  the  orig- 
inal Ku  Klux  Klan  which  rampaged  in  the  southern  states 
after  the  Civil  War,  killing  hundreds  of  negroes  and  whites, 
and  which  was  put  out  of  business  by  President  U.  S.  Grant 
after  the  states  had  failed  to  do  so. 

Simmons  and  thirty-four  others  secured  a  charter  from 
the  state  of  Georgia  on  December  4,  1915.  It  is  signed  by 
Philip  Cook,  who  was  then  secretary  of  state  of  that  com- 
monwealth. Later,  on  July  1,  1916,  a  special  charter  was 
issued  by  the  Supreme  court  of  Fulton  county,  Ga.  The 
granting  of  the  charters  followed  the  organization  of  the 
Klan  which  occurred  with  midnight  ceremonies  on  the  top 
of  Stone  mountain,  near  Atlanta,  Thanksgiving  night. 


THAT  COLD  WINTER  NIGHT 

In  referring  to  the  first  ceremonies,  Simmons  has  writ- 
ten as  follows  in  the  official  records  of  the  Ku  Klux: 

"On  Thanksgiving  night,  1915,  men  were  seen  emerging 
from  the  shadows  and  gathering  round  the  spring  at  the 
base  of  Stone  mountain,  the  world's  greatest  rock,  near 

25 


26  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  from  thence  repaired  to  the  mountain 
top,  and  there  under  a  blazing  fiery  cross  they  took  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Invisible  Empire,  Knights  of  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan. 

"And  thus  on  the  mountain  top  that  night  at  the  mid- 
night hour,  while  men  braved  the  surging  blasts  of  wild 
wintry  mountain  winds  and  endured  a  temperature  far  be- 
low freezing,  bathed  in  the  sacred  glow  of  the  fiery  cross, 
the  Invisible  Empire  was  called  from  its  slumber  of  half 
a  century  to  take  up  a  new  task  and  fulfill  a  new  mission 
for  humanity's  good,  and  to  call  back  to  mortal  habitation 
the  good  angel  of  practical  fraternity  among  men." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Simmons  refers  to  "a  temperature 
far  below  freezing."  The  official  weather  reports  of  the 
region  for  that  night  show  that  the  temperature  was  thirty 
degrees  above  the  freezing  point. 

Simmons  had  a  fraternal  order  in  mind  when  he  organ- 
ized the  Ku  Klux.  He  had  been  an  itinerant  Methodist 
preacher  and  organizer  for  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  the 
World  and  had  not  met  with  success  in  either  capacity.  He 
was  a  good  talker  but  lacked  the  "punch"  to  put  things 
over.  The  Ku  Klux  Klan  did  not  prosper  under  his  direc- 
tion. Then  he  met  Edward  Y.  Clarke  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Tyler.  Clarke  and  Mrs.  Tyler  were  the  owners  of  the 
Southern  Publicity  Association  of  Atlanta.  During  the 
war  they  had  been  publicity  agents  for  various  "drives," 
managed  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  such  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  Salva- 
tion Army  and  such  enterprises.  Clarke  saw  the  value  of 
the  publicity  that  could  be  coined  from  the  old  name  of 
the  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  entered  into  an  arrangement  with 
Simmons  to  promote  the  Klan.  He  agreed  to  give  Simmons 
$100  a  week  if  Simmons  would  follow  his  directions.  Sim- 
mons was  to  brush  up  on  delivering  speeches  and  writing 
articles  for  The  Searchlight,  a  magazine  which  Clarke 
founded  as  the  official  organ  of  the  Ku  Klux. 

From  this  joining  of  forces  Simmons,  Clarke  and  Mrs. 
Tyler  have  become  rich.  The  Klan  has  extended  its  mem- 
bership to  all  except  three  states  and  it  claims  that  500,000 
to  700,000  Klansmen  are  in  its  ranks.  Clarke  is  the  "Im- 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  27 

perial  Kleagle,"  or  boss  salesman  of  memberships.  Mrs. 
Tyler  is  Grand  Chief  of  Staff  in  charge  of  the  woman's 
division  of  the  Klan. 


WHAT  POLICE  RECORDS  SHOW 

Investigation  of  the  police  and  court  records  of  Atlanta 
disclosed  that  Clarke  and  Mrs.  Tyler  were  arrested  in  their 
night  clothes  in  a  house  that  Mrs.  Tyler  owned  at  No.  185 
South  Pryor  street,  Atlanta.  This  occurred  in  October, 
1919.  Clarke  gave  the  name  of  "Jim  Slaton"  and  Mrs. 
Tyler  gave  the  name  of  "Mrs.  Elizabeth  Carroll." 

The  cases  were  on  the  book  of  the  Recorder's  court  as 
City  of  Atlanta  versus  E.  Y.  Clarke  and  City  of  Atlanta 
versus  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Tyler,  page  305  of  the  docket  of  1919, 
case  numbers  17,005  and  17,006.  The  police  were  put  on 
the  trail  of  Clarke  and  Mrs.  Tyler  by  Clarke's  wife. 

In  addition  to  the  charge  of  disorderly  conduct,  a  charge 
of  possessing  whisky  illegally  was  placed  against  Mrs. 
Tyler  and  Clarke.  This  was  an  amazing  charge  against 
Clarke  because  he  had  been  known  as  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  anti-saloon  movement  in  Georgia.  The  whisky  charge 
was  dropped  when  J.  Q.  Jett,  son-in-law  of  Mrs.  Tyler, 
claimed  ownership  of  the  whisky  and  was  fined  $25. 

The  Klan  is  supposed  to  stand  for  respect  of  women  and 
children.  The  records  of  the  Atlanta  courts  still  contain 
charges  against  Clarke  that  he  deserted  and  abandoned 
his  wife  and  child.  He  never  has  denied  the  charges.  Mrs. 
Clarke  went  to  work  to  support  herself  and  her  little  son. 
A  suit  for  divorce  was  filed  in  October,  1919,  by  Mrs. 
Clarke,  who  charged  that  her  husband  had  deserted  her 
three  years  previously.  After  his  arrest  with  Mrs.  Tyler 
Clarke  agreed  to  pay  his  wife  $75  a  month.  Since  Clarke 
has  become  prosperous  in  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  he  has  bought 
his  wife  a  $10,000  house. 


28  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

RECORDS  ARE  STOLEN 

When  newspaper  men  began  to  investigate  Mrs.  Tyler 
and  Clarke,  they  discovered  that  the  official  records  of  the 
Atlanta  police  department  and  the  Recorder's  office  had 
been  mutilated.  Somebody  had  stolen  the  pages  from  the 
books  containing  the  records  of  the  cases.  Members  of 
the  Ku  Klux  Klan  are  numbered  among  the  police  and  offi- 
cial attaches  of  the  city  and  newspaper  comment  indicates 
that  they  helped  smother  the  case  in  behalf  of  their  leaders. 

SCANDAL  OP  "CHAPLAIN"  RIDLEY 

Another  leader  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  "Rev."  Caleb  A. 
Ridley,  who  is  the  "Imperial  Chaplain"  of  the  order.  He 
is  a  right-hand  assistant  of  Mrs.  Tyler  and  helps  her  to 
edit  The  Searchlight. 

Ridley  also  has  had  an  experience  in  the  recorder's  court. 
He  was  arrested  on  complaint  of  the  husband  of  Mrs.  J.  B. 
Hamilton,  who  lives  on  Cooper  street,  Atlanta,  not  a  great 
distance  from  the  Central  Baptist  church,  where  Ridley 
preaches.  Recorder  Johnson  dismissed  the  case  against 
Ridley. 

Mrs.  Hamilton  testified  that  Ridley  used  to  walk  past  her 
house  when  she  sat  on  the  porch  and  smile  up  at  her.  One 
day,  without  being  invited  and  with  no  encouragement 
from  her,  he  walked  up  on  the  porch  and  sat  next  to  her 
on  a  swing.  She  said  he  chatted  with  her  about  church 
questions,  although  she  was  not  a  member  of  his  church. 
Then  he  placed  his  arm  around  her,  tried  to  embrace  her 
and  said  something  that  she  thought  was  not  proper. 

One  witness  testified  that  he  had  seen  Ridley  go  on  the 
porch  and  sit  on  the  swing.  He  had  seen  Mrs.  Hamilton 
push  Ridley  away  from  her. 

Ridley  was  supported  by  his  flock.  Several  women  tes- 
tified in  behalf  of  his  character.  He  said  he  visited  Mrs. 
Hamilton  because  she  looked  lonely. 


CHAPTER  IV 
HOW  THE  KU  KLUX  KLAN  GETS  MEMBERS 

First  Approached  by  Mysterious  Notes,  the  Can- 
didate is  Soaked  for  a  "Donation"  and  Money  for 
His  Robes. 

The  man  who  is  invited  to  join  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is 
kidded  into  the  belief  that  he  is  one  of  the  chosen  of  God's 
beings  and  that  he  is  being  honored  because  his  presence 
in  the  ranks  is  an  honor  to  himself  as  well  as  to  the  Klan. 
A  kleagle  is  a  common  salesman.  He  has  charge  of  a  small 
district.  He  works  under  a  king  kleagle,  who  has  charge 
of  a  state.  He  is  the  state  salesmanager.  A  cyclops  is  in 
charge  of  the  king  kleagles  and  the  kleagles  in  several 
states. 

Here  is  the  way  one  group  of  kleagles  work.  They  are 
given  the  name  of  a  person  who  is  eligible.  One  kleagle  is 
assigned  to  catch  him.  The  kleagle  sends  the  sucker  the 
following  message : 

"Sir  (or  Brother) — -Six  thousand  men  who  are  preparing 
for  eventualities  have  their  eyes  on  you.  You  are  being 
weighed  in  the  balance ! 

"The  Call  is  coming!  Are  you  able  and  qualified  to 
respond? 

"Discuss  this  matter  with  no  one." 

"Yu-Bu-Tu" 

A  few  days  later  this  card  is  sent: 

"Sir — You  have  heard  from  us  because  we  believe  in 
you.  We  are  for  you  and  Need  you ! 

"The  impenetrable  Veil  of  Mystery  is  drawing  aside. 
Soon  you  will  appear  exactly  as  you  are. 

"Are  you  a  Real  Man? 

29 


30  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

"Lift  your  eyes  to  the  Fiery  Cross  and  falter  not,  but  go 
forward  to  the  Light. 

"Discuss  this  matter  with  no  one. 

"Yu-Bu-Tu" 

After  another  short  wait  this  third  message  is  sent : 

"Sir: 

"You  have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  Not 
wanting ! 

"Strong  Men — Brave  Men — R-e-a-1  Men.  We  need  such 
Men.  We  know  you  are  one. 

"The  Goblins  of  the  Invisible  Empire  will  shortly  issue 
their  Call.  Be  discreet,  preserve  silence  and  bide  its 
coming. 

"Discuss  this  matter  with  no  one. 

"Yu-Bu-Tu" 

By  this  time  the  candidate  is  supposed  to  be  in  a  mood 
to  fall,  and  the  kleagle  calls  on  him  personally. 


QUESTIONS  FOB  THE  CANDIDATE 

The  kleagle  presents  the  prospective  initiate  with  the 
following  list  of  questions  to  be  answered : 

(Note  the  questions  marked  with  stars.  They  are  used 
to  bar  out  Jews,  Catholics,  negroes  and  foreign  born.) 

1.  Is  the  motive  prompting  your  inquiry  serious? 

2.  What  is  you  age? 

3.  What  is  your  occupation? 

4.  Where  where  you  born?  • 

5.  How  long  have  you  resided  in  your  present  locality? 

6.  Are  you  married,  single  or  widower? 

*  7.     Were  your  parents  born  in  the  United  States  of 

America  ? 

*  8.     Are  you  a  gentile  or  Jew? 

*  9.    Are  you  of  the  white  race  or  of  a  colored  race? 

10.  What  educational  advantages  have  you? 

11.  Color  of  eyes?    Hair?    Weight?    Height? 

*12.     Do  you   believe  in  the  principles  of  Pure  Amer- 
icanism? 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  31 

*13.     Do  you  believe  in  white  supremacy? 
14.    What  is  your  politics? 
*15.     What  is  your  religious  faith? 
*16.    Of  what  church  are  you  a  member  (if  any)  ? 
*17.     Of  what  religious  faith  are  your  parents? 

18.  What  secret,  fraternal  orders  are  you  a  member  of 
(if  any)  ? 

19.  Do  you  honestly  believe  in  the  practice  of   Real 
fraternity? 

*20.  Do  you  owe  any  kind  of  allegiance  to  any  foreign  na- 
tion, government,  institution,  sect,  people,  ruler  or 
person  ? 

I  most  solemnly  assert  and  affirm  that  each  question 
above  is  truthfully  answered  by  me  and-  in  my  own  hand- 
writing and  that  below  is  my  real  signature. 

Signed 

Inquirer. 


Business  Address   , 

Telephone  No , 

Date 19 

Residence  Address  . 


Telephone  No. 


N.  B. — If  space  above  is  not  sufficient  to  answer  ques- 
tions, then  make  your  answer  on  the  other  side  of  this 
sheet.  Number  the  answer  to  correspond  with  the  ques- 
tion. 

If  the  candidate  answers  the  question  satisfactorily,  he 
must  pay  his  initiation  fees,  called  "donation"  and  provide 
money  to  pay  for  his  mask,  robe,  etc.  This  will  be  ex- 
plained later.  With  his  money  affairs  settled,  he  is  ready 
for  the  initiation,  together  with  whatever  other  candidates 
there  are  in  the  vicinity.  The  initiation  services  are  held 
at  midnight,  with  a  flaming  cross,  an  American  flag,  a 
sword  or  dagger,  and  a  Bible  as  the  chief  outward  signs 
of  the  order.  There  is  also  a  bottle  of  water  on  the  "altar." 


CHAPTER  V 
OATH  OF  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

Those  who  join  the  order  must  pledge  blind  al- 
legiance to  Constitution.    They  do  not  see. 

Blind  and  unconditional  obedience  to  the  "constitution, 
laws,  regulations  usages  and  requirements"  of  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan,  even  to  the  extent  of  indorsing  the  principle  of  secret 
mob  violence,  is  accepted  by  every  person  who  takes  the 
oath  of  Grand  Wizard  Simmons'  Invisible  Empire. 

That  every  Klansman,  under  penalty  of  death,  also 
agres  to  carry  out  the  mandates,  degrees,  edicts,  rulings 
and  "instructions"  of  Emperor  Simmons  also  is  shown  in 
a  reproduction  of  the  oath  as  supplied  by  Klan  organizers 
and  officials. 

The  first  section  of  this  oath  that  carries  veiled  hints  of 
violence  to  back  it  binds  the  members  to  unconditional 
obedience  to  a  constitution  he  has  never  seen.  Not  only 
that  but  it  binds  him  to  obey  any  laws  that  may  be  enacted 
in  the  future,  whether  or  not  he  approves  of  them.  When 
he  takes  this  obligation  he  gives  a  lease  on  his  life  to 
Simmons. 


SWEARS  TO  ABSOLUTE  SECRECY 

Absolute  secrecy  even  in  the  face  of  death  is  his  second 
obligation  and  he  promises  that  he  "will  pay  promptly  all 
just  and  legal  demands  made  upon  me  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  my  Klan  when  same  are  due  or  called  for." 

Then,  with  his  left  hand  over  his  heart  and  his  right 
hand  raised  to  heaven  and  with  the  promise  that  "this  oath 
I  will  seal  with  my  blood,"  the  candidate  takes  oath  that  he 

32 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  33 

"will  most  zealously  and  valiantly  shield  and  preserve  by 
any  and  all  JUSTIFIABLE  means  and  methods  (not  legal 
means  and  methods)  the  sacred  constitutional  rights  and 
privileges  of  free  public  schools,  free  speech,  free  press, 
separation  of  church  and  state,  liberty,  white  supremacy, 
just  laws  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  against  any  en- 
croachment of  any  nature  by  any  person  or  persons,  polit- 
ical party  or  parties,  religious  sect  or  people,  native,  nat- 
uralized or  foreign,  of  any  race,  color,  creed,  lineage  or 
tongue  whatsoever." 


MYSTERY  IN  AUTHORITY 

Who  defines  the  permissible  limits  of  zeal  and  valor  is 
not  stated.  Neither  is  it  stated  who  decides  when  schools 
are  free,  speech  and  press  free,  nor  when  church  and  state 
are  sufficiently  separated.  It  is  not  stated  whether  it  is 
the  individual  Klansman,  the  local  Klan,  the  supreme  coun- 
cil or  the  Imperial  Wizard. 

It  has  been  revealed,  however,  that  this  phase  of  the 
Klan  movement  has  been  much  fathered  by  the  sales  crew 
selling  subscriptions  at  $10  each  under  the  direction  of 
Wizard  Simmons  and  Imperial  Kleagle  Clarke. 

The  exact  text  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  administered  to 
new  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  given  herewith.  The 
asterisks  are  printed  to  take  place  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  and 
also  the  officers  of  the  order.  These  places  are  left  blank 
in  the  printed  oath  because  it  is  carried  by  Klan  officials 
and  might  be  lost,  revealing  their  secret. 

The  oath: 

You  will  place  your  left  hand  over  your  heart  and  raise 
your  right  hand  to  heaven. 


SEC.  I.— OBEDIENCE 

(You  will  say)  "I" (Pronounce  your  full  name 

and  repeat  after  me)   "In  the  presence  of  God  and  Man 
most  solemnly  pledge,  promise  and  swear  u»- 


34  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

conditionally that  I  will  faithfully  obey the  con- 
stitution and  laws and  will  willingly  conform  to 

all    regulations,    usages    and    requirements    of    the 

*    *    *    * which  do  now  exist or  which  may  be 

hereafter  enacted  and  will  render  at  all  times  

loyal  respect  and  steadfast  support to  the  Imperial 

Authority  of  same and  will  heartily  heed all  offi- 
cial mandates  decrees  edicts  rulings  and 

instructions of  the  I*  W*  thereof.   I  will  yield 

prompt  response  to  all  summonses  I  having 

knowledge  of  same Providence  alone  preventing. 


SEC.  n.— SECRECY 

"I  most  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  forever  

keep  sacredly  secret the  signs,  words  and  grip 

and  any  and  all  other matters  and  knowledge of 

the  *  *  *  *  regarding  which  a  most  rigid  se- 
crecy   must  be  maintained which  may  at  any  time 

be  communicated  to  me and  will  never  divulge 

same nor  even  cause  the  same  to  be  divulged to 

any  person  in  the  whole  world unless  I  know  positive- 
ly   that  such  person  is  a  member  of  this  Order 

in  good  and  regular  standing and  not  even  then 

unless  it  be for  the  best  interest  of  this  Order. 

"I  most  sacredly  vow  and  most  positively  swear 

that  I  will  not  yield  to  bribe flattery threats 

passion punishment persecution per- 


suasion    nor  any  enticements  whatever  coming 

from  or  offered  by any  person  or  persons male 

or  female for  the  purpose  of obtaining  from  me 

a  secret  or  secret  information of  the  *  *  *  * 

I  will  die  rather  than  divulge  same so  help  me 

God AMEN !" 

You  will  drop  your  hands. 

GENTLEMEN  (or  SIR)  : 

You  will  wait  in  patience  and  peace  until  you  are  in- 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  35 

formed  of  the  decision  of  the  E*  C*  and  his  *  in  klonklave 
assembled 

You  will  place  your  left  hand  over  your  heart  and  raise 
your  right  hand  to  heaven. 


SEC.  m.— FIDELITY 

(You  will  say)  "I" (pronounce  your  full  name 

and  repeat  after  me)  "Before  God and  in  the  presence 

of these  mysterious  *smen on  my  sacred  honor 

do  most  solemnly  and  sincerely  pledge promise 

and  swear that  I  will  diligently  guard  and  faithfully 

foster every  interest  of  the  *  *  *  *  and  will 

maintain its  social  cast  and  dignity. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  not  recommend any  person  for 

membership  in  this  Order  whose  mind  is  unsound 

or  whose  reputation  I  know  to  be  bad or  whose 

character  is  doubtful or  whose  loyalty  to  our  country 

is  in  any  way  questionable. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  pay  promptly all  just  and  legal 

demands made  upon  me  to  defray  the  expenses 

of  my  *  and  this  Order when  same  are  due  or  called 

for 

"I  swear  that  I  will  protect  the  property  of  the 

*  *  *  *  of  any  nature  whatsoever and  if  any 

should  be  intrusted  to  my  keeping I  will  properly  keep 

or  rightly  use  same and  will  freely  and  promptly 

surrender  same on  official  demand or  if  ever  I 

am  banished  from or  voluntarily  discontinue my 

membership  in  this  Order. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  most  determinedly  maintain 

peace  and  harmony in  all  the  deliberations of  the 

gatherings  or  assemblies of  the  I*  E* and  of  any 

subordinate  jurisdiction or  *  thereof. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  most  strenuously  discourage 

selfishness and  selfish  political  ambition  on  the 

part  of  myself  or  any  *sman. 


36  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

"I  swear  that  I  will  never  allow personal  friendship 

blood  or  family  relationship nor  personal 

political or  professional  prejudice malice  nor  ill- 
will  to  influence  me  in  casting  my  vote for  the 

election  or  rejection of  an  applicant for  member- 
ship in  this  Order God  being  my  helper 

AMEN  I" 

You  will  drop  your  hands. 

You  will  place  your  left  hand  over  your  heart  and  raise 
your  right  hand  to  heaven. 

SEC.  IV.— *ISHNESS 

(You  will  say)    "I"  (Pronounce  your  full  name 

and  repeat  after  me)  "Most  solemnly  pledge,  promise 

and  swear that  I  will  never  slander defraud 

receive or  in  any  manner  wrong the    *    *    *    * 

a  *sman nor  a  *sman's  family nor  will  I 

suffer  the  same  to  be  done if  I  can  prevent  it. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  be  faithful  in  defending  and 

protecting the  home reputation and  phys- 
ical and  business  interest of  a  *sman and  that 

of  a  *sman's  family. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  at  any  time without  hesitating 

go  to  the  assistance  or  rescue of  a  *sman  in  any 

way at  his  call  I  will  answer I  will  be  truly  *ish 

toward  *smen in  all  things  honorable. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  not  allow any  animosity 

friction  nor  ill-will to  arise  and  remain between 

myself  and  a  *sman but  will  be  constant  in  my  efforts 

to  promote  real  *ishness among  the  members  of 

this  Order. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  keep  secure  to  myself a  secret 

of  a  *sman when  same  is  committed  to  me in  the 

sacred  bond  of  *smanship the  crime  of  violating  THIS 

solemn  oath  treason  against  the  United  States  of 

America rape and  malicious  murder alone 

excepted. 

"I  most  solemnly  assert  and  affirm that  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  of  America  and  any 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  87 

State  thereof of  which  I  may  become  a  resident 

I  sacredly  swear an  unqualified  allegiance above 

any  other  and  every  kind  of  government in  the  whole 

world I  here  and  now pledge  my  life my 

property my  vote and  my  sacred  honor to 

uphold  its  flag its  Constitution and  Constitution- 
al laws and  will  protect defend and  enforce 

same  unto  death. 

"I  swear  that  I  will  most  zealously and  valiantly 

shield  and  preserve by  any  and  all justifi- 
able means  and  methods  the  sacred  constitutional 

rights and  privileges  of free  public  schools 

free  speech free  press separation  of  church  and 

state  liberty  white  supremacy  just  laws 

and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  against  any  en- 
croachment   of  any  nature by  any  person  or  per- 
sons   political  party  or  parties religious  sect  or 

people native,  naturalized  or  foreign of  any  race 

color creed lineage  or  tongue  whatsoever. 

"All  to  which  I  have  sworn  by  THIS  oath I  will  seal 

with  my  blood  be  Thou  my  witness  Almighty 

God AMEN!" 

You  will  drop  your  hands. 


OLD  PLEDGE  OF  LOYALTY 


APPELLATION 

This  Organization  shall  be  styled  and  denom- 
inated, The  Order  of  the  (then  follows  three 
stars;  no  other  name  given). 

CREED 

We,  the  Order  of  the  *  *  *,  reverentially  ac- 
knowledge the  majesty  and  supremacy  of  the 
Divine  Being,  and  recognize  the  goodness  and 
providence  of  the  same.  And  we  recognize  our 
relation  to  the  United  States  Government,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  the  Constitutional 
Laws  thereof,  and  the  Union  of  States  thereunder. 

OBJECTS  OF  THE  ORDER 

This  is  an  institution  of  Chivalry,  Humanity, 
Mercy,  and  Patriotism;  embodying  in  its  genius 
and  its  principles  all  that  is  chivalric  in  conduct, 
noble  in  sentiment,  generous  in  manhood,  and  pa- 
triotic in  purpose;  its  peculiar  object  being, 

First:  To  protect  the  weak,  the  innocent,  and 
the  defenseless,  from  the  indignities,  wrongs,  and 
outrages,  of  the  lawless,  the  violent,  and  the  bru- 
tal; to  relieve  the  injured  and  oppressed;  to  succor 
the  suffering  and  unfortunate,  and  especially  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  Confederate  soldiers. 

Second:  To  protect  and  defend  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  all  laws  passed  in 
conformity  thereto,  and  to  protect  the  States  and 
the  people  thereof  from  all  invasion  from  any 
source  whatever. 

Third :  To  aid  and  assist  in  the  execution  of  all 
constitutional  laws,  and  to  protect  the  people  from 
unlawful  seizure,  and  from  trial  except  by  their 
peers  in  conformity  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 


Note  the  vast  difference  between  this  and  the  following  page.  One, 
the  pledge  to  all  that  is  right  and  uplifting — the  other  to  a  single 
autocrat.  The  above  was  formed  for  the  protection  and  enforcement 
of  law — the  Kleagle's  pledge,  merely  a  vow  to  do  anything  that  the 
Imperial  Wizard  Simmons  might  see  fit. 

38 


MODERN  KLEAGLE'S  PLEDGE  OF  LOYALTY 

I,  the  undersigned,  in  order  to  be  a  regular  appointed 
KlEagle  of  the  Invisible  Empire,  Knights  of  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan  (Incorporated),  do  freely  and  voluntarily 
promise,  pledge  and  fully  guarantee  a  lofty  respect, 
whole-hearted  loyalty  and  an  unwavering  devotion  at 
all  times  and  under  any  and  all  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions from  this  day  and  date  forward  to  William 
Joseph  Simmons  as  Imperial  Wizard  and  Emperor  of 
the  Invisible  Empire,  Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan 
(Incorporated) .  I  shall  work  in  all  respects  in  perfect 
harmony  with  him  and  under  his  authority  and  direc- 
tions, in  all  his  plans  for  the  extension  and  government 
of  the  Society,  and  under  his  directions,  with  any  and 
all  of  my  officially  superior  officers  duly  appointed  by 
him. 

I  shall  at  any  and  all  times  be  faithful  and  true  in 
all  things,  and  most  especially  in  preventing  and  sup- 
pressing any  factions,  cisms  or  conspiracies  against 
him  or  his  plans  and  purposes  or  the  peace  and  har- 
mony of  the  Society  which  may  arise  or  attempt  to 
arise.  I  shall  discourage  and  strenuously  oppose  any 
degree  of  disloyalty  or  disrespect  on  the  part  of  myself 
or  any  klansman,  any  where  and  at  any  time  or  place, 
towards  him  as  the  founder  and  as  the  supreme  chief 
governing  head  of  the  Society  above  named. 

This  pledge,  promise  and  guarantee  I  make  is  a  con- 
dition precedent  to  my  appointment  stated  above,  and 
the  continuity  of  my  appointment  as  a  KlEagle,  and  i 
is  fully  agreed  that  any  deviation  by  me  from  this 
pledge  will  instantly  automatically  cancel  and  com- 
pletely void  my  appointment  together  with  all  its  pre- 
rogatives, my  membership  in  the  Society,  and  I  shall 
forfeit  all  remunerations  which  may  be  then  due  me. 

I  make  this  solemn  pledge  on  my  Oath  of  Allegiance 
and  on  my  integrity  and  honor  as  a  man  and  as  a 
klansman,  with  serious  purpose  to  keep  same  inviolate. 

Done  in  the  city  of ,  State  of 

on  this  the 

day  of A.  D.  19... 

Signed  

Address 

Witness :  

Address        


This  is  the  oath  taken  by  Kleagles  in  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  It  binds 
the  Kleagle  to  "Imperial  Wizard"  Simmons  personally  in  an  almost 
slavish  fashion.  The  oath  is  taken  as  a  pledge  of  loyalty  to  Simmons 
and  not  to  the  order. 

89 


CHAPTER  VI 
HOW  THE  DOLLARS  ROLL  IN 

The  Klan  Claims  to  Have  500,000  to  700,000  Mem- 
bers.   Plan  to  get  College  Boys. 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  claims  to  have  500,000  to  700,000 
members.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  generally  believed  that 
that  number  is  a  hot  air  figure.  It  offers  a  basis  for  some 
interesting  figures  on  the  money  that  has  changed  hands, 
however. 

Every  person  initiated  must  pay  $10  as  an  initiation  fee. 
Kleagles  who  have  left  the  order  say  that  the  "initiation" 
fee  is  called  a  "donation"  so  that  the  Klan  can  escape  pay- 
ing income  tax  to  the  government,  because  dues  in  clubs 
and  societies  are  taxable. 

Of  the  $10,  the  kleagle  who  enrolls  the  member  gets  $4. 
The  king  kleagle,  or  state  salesmanager,  gets  $1.  The 
cyclops,  or  division  manager,  gets  50  cents.  Clarke,  the 
Imperial  Kleagle,  gets  $3  and  the  office  of  Imperial  Wizard 
Simmons  gets  $1.50.  On  this  basis  of  700,000  members, 
Clarke  has  collected  more  than  $2,000,000.  So  far  as 
known  no  public  accounting  ever  has  been  made. 

In  addition  the  person  initiated  pays  $6.50  for  a  mask, 
or  helmet,  and  a  robe.  This  he  must  purchase  from  the 
Gate  City  Manufacturing  Company  of  Atlanta,  owned  by 
Clarke.  Clarke's  fortune  grows  every  time  a  new  member 
is  taken  in.  If  the  Klansmen  rides  a  horse  in  ceremonies 
he  must  buy  a  robe  for  $14 — also  from  Clarke's  company. 

WATER  AT  $10  A  QUART 

Another  source  of  revenue  to  Clarke  is  the  water  used 
in  initiations.  It  comes  from  the  Chattahoochee  river 
(Indian  for  "muddy  water")  near  Atlanta.  It  is  sent 

40 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  41 

around  the  country  as  special  Ku  Klux  Klan  liquid  without 
which  an  initiation  cannot  be  held.  It  costs  $10  a  quart, 
money  to  be  paid  to  Clarke. 

Simmons  and  Clarke  live  in  costly  houses  on  Peachtree 
road,  outside  of  Atlanta.  It  is  explained  that  their  homes 
were  presented  to  them  by  the  Klan.  It  also  is  explained 
that  some  of  the  money  of  the  Klan  goes  to  Lanier  univer- 
sity, near  Atlanta,  where  young  students  are  to  be  trained 
to  spread  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  to  every  village  of  the  country. 


AFTER  THE  COLLEGE  BOYS 

In  addition  to  the  general  membership,  Simmons  started 
a  plan  to  get  college  boys  into  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  at  $1  a 
head  and  with  a  charge  of  $5  for  masks  and  regalia.  The 
watchword  for  the  college  boys  was  to  be  "Kuno."  Sim- 
mons, according  to  kleagles  who  deserted  him,  explained 
that  he  got  the  college  idea  from  the  German  militarism 
system,  which  started  to  train  boys  for  the  army  when 
they  were  in  school.  Simmons  wrote  this  inspiration  to 
attract  college  boys : 

"Klannishners  is  your  creed  and  faith;  therefore,  let  no 
angel,  man  or  devil  break  you  from  its  glorious  anchorage. 
Then  when  the  end  of  your  initiation  shall  have  been 
reached  in  this  life  and  you  have  been  summoned  to  take 
your  place  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  Invisible  Empire,  as  you 
pass  through  the  veil  you  can  say  to  the  world  in  tones  of 
truth  triumphant:  "I  have  kept  the  Faith!"  Thus  pre- 
serving your  honor  by  a  faithful  allegiance  your  life  shall 
not  have  been  lived  in  vain." 


THE  BOOK  OP  "KLORAN" 

The  ceremony  of  initiation  is  contained  in  a  copyrighted 
book  called  the  Kloran  written  by  Imperial  Wizard  Sim- 
mons. The  Bible  is  opened  at  the  12th  Chapter  of  Romans. 

These  songs  are  sung : 


42  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

We  meet  in  cordial  greetings 

In  this  our  sacred  cave 
To  pledge  anew  our  compact 

With  hearts  sincere  and  brave; 
A  band  of  faithful  Klansmen 

Knights  of  the  K.  K.  K. 
We  all  will  stand  together 

Forever  and  for  aye. 

Chorus : 

Home,  home,  country  and  home; 

Klansmen,  we'll  live  and  die 
For  our  country  and  home. 

Her  honor,  love  and  justice 

Must  actuate  us  all, 
Before  our  sturdy  phalanx 

All  hate  and  strife  shall  fall. 
In  union  we'll  labor 

Wherever  we  may  roam, 
To  shield  a  Klansman's  welfare, 

His  country,  name  and  home. 


KLEXOLOGY 

( Tune — America ) 
"God  of  Eternity, 

Guide,  guard  our  great  country, 
Our  homes  and  store. 

Keep  our  great  state  to  Thee; 
Its  people  right  and  free 

In  us  Thy  glory  be 
Forevermore." 


CHAPTER  VII 
KU  KLUX  KLAN  AND  THE  JEWS 

"Drive  them  out  of  the  United  States"  are  the 
words  that  are  used  to  enlist  Jew-haters  into  the 
ranks. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the 
American  colonies,  in  the  war  of  the  revolution  and  in  other 
national  crises,  great  Jews  have  helped  to  make  the  United 
States  what  it  is  today,  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  recruits  mis- 
guided members  on  the  representation  that  it  has  found  a 
scheme  to  drive  the  Jews  out  of  the  country.  Anti-Jewish 
propaganda  is  used  particularly  in  large  cities  and  in 
smaller  communities  where  racial  and  religious  flames  may 
be  fanned  in  order  to  win  members  and  money  for  the 
Ku  Klux. 

The  Searchlight,  the  official  paper  of  the  Klan,  teems 
with  anti-Jewish  literature.  Secret  documents  and  stories 
are  passed  around  privately  among  the  organizers  and  used 
in  gaining  recruits. 

"Chaplain"  Ridley  is  one  of  the  most  rabid  of  the  cam- 
paigners against  the  Jews.  He  never  lets  an  opportunity 
go  by  to  ridicule  Jews  and  stir  up  prejudice. 

In  the  first  place,  Jews  are  barred  from  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan.  In  a  questionnaire  that  must  be  filled  in  by  those  who 
are  initiated  these  questions  are  asked : 

"Are  you  a  gentile  or  a  jew?  What  is  your  religious 
faith?  Of  what  church  are  you  a  member  (if  any)  ?  Of 
what  religious  faith  are  your  parents?" 

CHAPLAIN  ATTACKS  JEWS 

"Chaplain"  Ridley  in  The  Searchlight,  writes : 

"I  cannot  help  being  what  I  am  racially.    I  am  not  a  Jew, 

43 


44  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

nor  a  negro  nor  a  foreigner.  I  am  an  Anglo-Saxon  white 
man,  so  ordained  by  the  hand  and  will  of  God,  and  so  con- 
stituted and  trained  that  I  cannot  conscientiously  take 
either  my  politics  or  my  religion  from  some  secluded  ass 
on  the  other  side  of  the  world. 

"Now,  if  somebody  else  happens  to  be  a  Jew,  I  can't  help 
it  any  more  than  he  can.  Or  if  he  happens  to  be  black,  I 
can't  help  that,  either.  If  he  were  born  under  a  foreign 
flag,  I  couldn't  help  it — but  there  is  one  thing  I  can  do.  I 
can  object  to  his  un-American  propaganda  being  preached 
in  my  home  or  practiced  in  the  solemn  assembly  of  real 
Americans." 

The  Searchlight  constantly  mixes  Jews  and  negroes  in 
ridiculous  "movements."  For  instance,  one  writer  in  the 
issue  of  July  30,  1921,  declares  that  his  investigations  have 
demonstrated  that  Jewish  plotters  are  stirring  up  the 
negroes  to  make  a  race  war  so  that  the  government  will 
be  destroyed. 

The  writer  goes  on: 

"For  the  same  reason,  the  Jew  is  interested  in  over- 
throwing Christian  Russia.  But  remember,  he  does  not 
intend  to  stop  at  Russia.  Through  his  Third  Internationale 
of  Moscow  he  is  working  to  overthrow  all  the  Gentile  Gov- 
ernments of  the  world.  I  am  enclosing  an  editorial  clipped 
from  The  New  York  World  of  Saturday,  July  23.  You  will 
keep  in  mind  that  The  World  is  Jew-owned,  as  is  every 
other  newspaper  in  New  York  City  except  the  Tribune. 
*  *  *  In  all  my  twenty-five  years  traveling  about  over 
this  continent  I  have  never  met  a  disloyal  American  who 
failed  to  be  either  foreign-born  or  a  Semite.  With  the  best 
wishes  for  the  success  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan." 

HOW  TO  THROW  JEWS  OUT 

In  the  instructions  to  kleagles,  who  sell  memberships  in 
the  Klan,  the  anti-Jewish  feeling  in  some  communities  is 
appealed  to  in  this  manner: 

"The  Jew  patronizes  only  the  Jew  unless  it  is  impossible 
to  do  so.  Therefore,  we  klansmen,  the  only  real  Amer- 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  45 

icans,  must,  by  the  same  methods,  protect  ourselves,  and 
practice  by  actual  application  the  teachings  of  klannish- 
ness.  With  this  policy  faithfully  adhered  to,  it  will  not 
be  long  before  the  Jew  will  be  forced  out  of  business  by 
our  practice  of  his  own  business  methods,  for  when  the 
time  comes  when  klansmen  trade  only  with  klansmen  then 
the  days  of  the  Jews'  success  in  business  will  be  numbered 
and  the  Invisible  Empire  can  drive  them  from  the  shores 
of  our  own  America." 

Another  favorite  way  to  create  interest  in  the  anti-Jew- 
ish movement  is  to  represent  that  Imperial  Kleagle  Clarke 
has  in  hand  the  organization  of  a  nation-wide  Jewish  so- 
ciety to  oppose  the  Sons  of  Israel.  This  society  is  to  be 
created  by  Jews  who  are  in  the  pay  of  Kleagle  Clarke  and 
who  are  really  traitors  to  their  own  co-religionists.  Spies 
working  in  the  ranks  of  the  Sons  of  Israel  will  keep  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan  informed  of  what  the  Sons  of  Israel  are  doing 
and  finally  a  clash  between  the  two  organizations  is  to  be 
engineered,  to  the  destruction  of  both.  Of  course  this  is 
the  wildest  sort  of  propaganda,  but  it  demonstrates  how 
the  agents  play  with  fire  in  order  to  get  members. 

"SEARCHLIGHT"  AND  THE  JEWS 

Among  the  articles  in  The  Searchlight  there  are  those 
headed,  "A  Message  from  Jerusalem — Esau  the  Wanderer 
must  Pay  for  His  Pottage — the  Mightiest  Weapons  for  the 
Jews  are  Pounds  and  Pence." 

"Doesn't  Think  Much  of  the  Jews." 

"Jewish  Rabbi  Gets  Rabid." 

A  paragraph  from  "Doesn't  Think  Much  of  the  Jews," 
published  Feb.  12,  1921,  contains  this  passage: 

"Their  religion  is  to  control  wealth  and  thereby  control 
all  nations.  And  you  cannot  deny  but  they  are  doing  so 
under  false  names.  Jews  are  entering  into  every  Govern- 
ment, every  nation  on  earth  except  China  and  Japan,  where 
their  heavenly  God  received  little  recognition.  They  spread 
their  ingenious  religion  that  strangled  the  ignorant  and 
credulous  by  causing  dissension  to  their  advantage." 


CHAPTER 
KU  KLUX  KLAN  AND  THE  CATHOLICS 

Misrepresentation  of  Oath  of  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus is  Used  to  excite  Religious  Hatred  in  order  to 
get  money. 

Just  as  the  organizers  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  misrepresent 
the  Jews  in  order  to  get  members  and  money  for  their 
order,  they  go  to  great  lengths  to  create  prejudice  against 
Catholics.  In  some  communities  anti-Catholic  arguments 
are  thought  to  be  those  that  will  bring  the  most  members 
into  the  fold.  Fake  documents  and  false  statements  on 
printed  cards  that  can  be  slyly  passed  from  hand  to  hand 
are  used  for  this  purpose.  Anti-Catholic  lies  that  can  be 
hurled  at  Klansmen  at  meetings  to  inspire  them  to  get  in 
more  members  and  increase  the  incomes  of  the  "imperial 
wizard,"  the  kleagles  and  other  officers  are  spread  around. 

One  of  these  documents  is  a  card  entitled  "Do  You 
Know?"  A  kleagle  of  the  Klan  asked  the  King  Kleagle  of 
his  state  for  some  literature  that  he  could  employ  to  stir 
up  interest  in  the  Klan.  In  a  short  time  the  kleagle  re- 
ceived the  literature  from  the  Gate  City  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  a  company  promoted  by  "Im- 
perial Kleagle"  Clarke.  The  supply  of  literature  contained 
100  copies  of  a  card  bearing  the  heading  "Do  You  Know?" 

Another  document  that  is  sent  broadcast  to  foment  re- 
ligious unrest  and  hatred  is  a  fake  oath  ascribed  to  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  which  is  composed  of  Catholics  and 
which  has  published  the  oath  that  its  members  take.  Be- 
fore reading  the  fake  oath,  it  will  be  well  to  examine  the 
real  oath. 

46 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  47 

REAL  K.  OF  C.  OATH 

The  bona  fide  oath  that  is  taken  by  men  initiated  into  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  and  which,  it  has  been  proven,  is  the 
correct  oath  follows: 

"I  swear  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  I  pledge  myself,  as  a  Catholic  citizen  and  Knight 
of  Columbus,  to  enlighten  myself  fully  upon  my  duties  as 
a  citizen  and  to  conscientiously  perform  such  duties  entire- 
ty in  the  interest  of  my  country  and  regardless  of  all  per- 
sonal consequences.  I  pledge  myself  to  do  all  in  my  power 
to  preserve  the  integrity  and  purity  of  the  ballot,  and  to 
promote  reverence  and  respect  for  law  and  order.  I  prom- 
ise to  practice  my  religion  openly  and  consistently,  but 
without  ostentation,  and  to  so  conduct  myself  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  in  the  exercise  of  public  virtue  as  to  reflect  noth- 
ing but  credit  upon  our  Holy  Church,  to  the  end  that  she 
may  flourish  and  our  country  prosper  to  the  greater  honor 
and  glory  of  God." 


BOGUS  E.  OF  C.  OATH 

We  can  now  appreciate  the  animus  behind  the  bfcgus 
oath  that  is  ascribed  to  the  Knights  of  Columbus  by  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan.  This  fraudulent  oath,  as  used  by  the  recruit- 
ing organization  of  kleagles  of  Ku  Klux  follows: 

"I, ,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 

God,  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist, the  Holy  Apostles,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  all  the 
saints,  sacred  host  of  Heaven,  and  to  you,  my  Ghostly 
Father,  the  Superior  General  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
founded  by  St.  Ignatius  Loyola,  in  the  pontification  of  Paul 
the  III,  and  continued  to  the  present,  do  by  the  womb  of 
the  Virgin,  the  matrix  of  God,  and  the  rod  of  Jesus  Christ, 
declare  and  swear  that  His  Holiness  the  Pope  is  Christ's 
vicegerent  and  is  the  true  and  only  head  of  the  Catholic  or 
Universal  Church  throughout  the  earth ;  and  that  by  virtue 
of  the  keys  of  binding  and  loosing  given  His  Holiness  by 


48  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

my  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to  depose  her- 
etical Kings,  Princes,  states,  Commonwealths  and  Govern- 
ments and  they  may  be  safely  destroyed.  Therefore  to  the 
utmost  of  my  power  I  will  defend  this  doctrine  and  His 
Holiness's  right  and  custom  against  all  usurpers  of  the  her- 
etical or  Protestant  authority  whatever,  especially  the 
Lutheran  Church  of  Germany,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden 
and  Norway,  and  the  now  pretended  authority  and 
Churches  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  the  branches  of 
same  now  established  in  Ireland  and  on  the  Continent  of 
America  and  elsewhere,  and  all  adherents  in  regard  that 
they  may  be  usurped  and  heretical  opposing  the  sacred 
Mother  Church  of  Rome. 

"I  do  now  denounce  and  disown  any  allegiance  as  due 
to  any  heretical  King,  Prince,  or  state,  named  Protestant 
or  liberals,  or  obedience  to  any  of  their  laws,  Magistrates, 
or  officers. 

"I  do  further  declare  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Churches 
of  England  and  Scotland,  of  the  Calvinists,  Huguenots  and 
others  of  the  name  of  Protestants  or  Masons  to  be  damn- 
able, and  they  themselves  to  be  damned  who  will  not  for- 
sake the  same. 

"I  do  further  declare  that  I  will  help,  assist  and  advise 
all  or  any  of  His  Holiness'  agents,  in  any  place  where  I 
should  be,  in  Switzerland,  Holland,  Ireland  or  America,  or 
in  any  other  kingdom  or  territory  I  shall  come  to,  and  do 
my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical  Protestant  or  Masonic 
doctrines  and  to  destroy  all  their  pretended  powers,  legal 
or  otherwise. 


MORE  OF  IT 

"I  do  further  promise  and  declare  that,  notwithstanding 
that  I  am  dispensed  with  to  assume  any  religion  heretical 
for  the  propaganda  of  the  Mother  Church's  interest,  to 
keep  secret  and  private  all  her  agents'  counsels  from  time 
to  time,  as  they  instruct  me,  and  not  divulge,  directly  or 
indirectly,  by  word,  writing  or  circumstances  whatever, 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  49 

but  to  execute  all  that  should  be  proposed,  given  in  charge 
or  discovered  unto  me  by  you,  my  Ghostly  Father,  or  any 
of  this  sacred  order. 

"I  do  further  promise  and  declare  that  I  will  have  no 
opinion  or  will  of  my  own  or  any  mental  reservation  what- 
soever, even  as  a  corpse  or  cadaver  (perinde  ac  cadaver) , 
but  will  unhesitatingly  obey  each  and  every  command  that 
I  may  receive  from  my  superiors  in  the  militia  of  the  Pope 
and  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"That  I  will  go  to  any  part  of  the  world  whithersoever 
I  may  be  sent,  to  the  frozen  regions  north,  jungles  of  India, 
to  the  centers  of  civilization  of  Europe  or  to  the  wild 
haunts  of  the  barbarous  savages  of  America  without  mur- 
muring or  repining,  and  will  be  submissive  in  all  things 
whatsoever  is  communicated  to  me. 


AND  STILL  MORE 

"I  do  further  promise  and  declare  that  I  will,  when  op- 
portunity presents,  make  and  wage  relentless  war,  secretly 
and  openly,  against  all  heretics,  Protestants  and  Masons, 
as  I  am  directed  to  do,  to  extirpate  them  from  the  face  of 
the  whole  earth;  and  that  I  will  spare  neither  age,  sex  or 
condition,  and  that  I  will  hang,  burn,  waste,  boil,  flay, 
strangle,  and  bury  alive  these  infamous  heretics;  rip  up 
the  stomachs  and  wombs  of  their  women  and  crash  their 
infants'  heads  against  the  walls  in  order  to  annihilate  their 
execrable  race.  That  when  the  same  cannot  be  done  open- 
ly, I  will  secretly  use  the  poisonous  cup,  strangulation  cord, 
the  steel  of  the  poniard  or  the  leaden  bullet,  regardless  of 
the  honor,  rank,  dignity  or  authority  of  the  persons,  what- 
ever may  be  their  condition  in  life,  either  public  or  private, 
as  I  at  any  time  may  be  directed  so  to  do  by  any  agents 
of  the  Pope  or  superior  of  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy 
Father  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

"In  confirmation  of  which  I  hereby  dedicate  my  life,  soul 
and  all  corporate  powers,  and  with  the  dagger  which  I  now 
receive  I  will  subscribe  my  name  written  in  my  blood  in 


50  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

testimony  thereof;  and  should  I  prove  false  or  weaken  in 
my  determination,  may  my  brethren  and  follow  soldiers 
of  the  militia  of  the  Pope  cut  off  my  hands  and  feet  and  my 
throat  from  ear  to  ear,  my  belly  opened  and  sulphur  burned 
therein  with  all  the  punishment  that  can  be  inflicted  upon 
me  on  earth  and  my  soul  shall  be  tortured  by  demons  in 
eternal  hell  forever. 


NEARING  THE  END  NOW 

"That  I  will  in  voting  always  vote  for  a  K.  of  C.  in  pref- 
erence to  a  Protestant,  especially  a  Mason,  and  that  I  will 
leave  my  party  so  to  do;  that  if  two  Catholics  are  on  the 
ticket  I  will  satisfy  myself  which  is  the  better  supporter 
of  Mother  Church  and  vote  accordingly. 

"That  I  will  not  deal  with  or  employ  a  Protestant  if  in 
my  power  to  deal  with  or  employ  a  Catholic.  That  I  will 
place  Catholic  girls  in  Protestant  families,  that  a  weekly 
report  may  be  made  of  the  inner  movements  of  the  heretics. 

"That  I  will  provide  myself  with  arms  and  ammunition 
that  I  may  be  in  readiness  when  the  word  is  passed  or  I 
am  commanded  to  defend  the  church,  either  as  an  individ- 
ual or  with  the  militia  of  the  Pope. 

"All  of  which  I, ,  do  swear  by  the  blessed 

Trinity  and  blessed  sacrament  which  I  am  now  to  receive 
to  perform  and  on  my  part  to  keep  this,  my  oath. 

"In  testimony  whereof,  I  take  this  most  holy  and  blessed 
sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  and  witness  the  same  further 
with  my  name  written  with  the  point  of  this  dagger  dipped 
in  my  own  blood  and  seal  it  in  the  face  of  this  holy  sacra- 
ment." (Excerpts  from  "Contested  election  case  of  Eu- 
gene C.  Bonniwell  against  Thomas  S.  Butler,"  as  appears 

in  the  Congressional  Record House,  Feb.  15,  1913,  at 

pages  3215,  &c.,  and  ordered  printed  therein  "by  unani- 
mous consent."  Attached  thereto  and  printed  (on  page 
3216)  as  a  part  of  said  report  as  above.) 

The  above  spurious  oath,  and  others  like  it,  have  been 
found  to  be  fraudulent,  both  by  the  courts  and  by  an  in- 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  51 

vestigation  made  by  Masonic  bodies.  The  above  oath  made 
its  appearance  according  to  a  book  published  by  Maurice 
Francis  Egan,  for  eleven  years  United  States  Minister  to 
Denmark,  and  John  B.  Kennedy,  in  1912.  Messrs.  Egan 
and  Kennedy  explain  it  as  follows : 

"It  was  filed  by  Mr.  Eugene  C.  Bonniwell  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  his  charge  against  Thomas  S.  Butler  before  the 
Committee  of  Elections  No.  1,  in  Congress,  when  Mr.  Bon- 
niwell stated  that  it  had  been  used  against  him  as  a  Fourth 
Degree  Knight  of  Columbus  in  an  election  contest.  Mr. 
Bulter,  in  his  defense,  stated  that  he  had  refrained  from 
condemning  the  'oath,'  until  election  day,  although  he  did 
not  believe  it  to  be  genuine,  because  he  feared  to  give  it 
notoriety. 

"Far  from  being  disconcerted  by  the  airing  of  this  de- 
lectable document  in  Congress,  those  profiting  by  its  cir- 
culation seized  upon  its  inclusion  in  the  Congressional 
Record  to  give  it  an  air  of  authority  by  printing  on  future 
copies  the  annotation  'Copied  from  the  Congressional  Rec- 
ord, &c.,'  not  pausing,  however,  to  explain  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  allowed  to  appear  in  that  offi- 
cial journal." 


EDITORS  ARE  CONVICTED 

A.  M.  Morrison  and  Garfield  E.  Morrison,  editors  of  the 
Morning  Journal  of  Mankato,  Minn.,  charged  E.  M.  Law- 
less, editor  of  the  Waterville,  Minn.,  Sentinel  with  having 
taken  the  bogus  oath.  Lawless  took  the  case  to  court  and 
the  two  Morrisons  were  convicted.  The  foreman  of  the 
jury  was  a  Methodist  minister. 

In  1914  the  bogus  oath  came  to  light  in  California.  The 
Knights  of  Columbus  asked  a  committee  of  two,  32nd  and 
33rd  degree,  Masons,  Past  or  Past  Grand  Masters  of  Ma- 
sonry of  that  state,  to  make  an  investigation  of  all  the 
rituals,  pledges  and  oaths  used  by  the  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus. The  Masonic  committee  gave  out  a  report  saying  that 
they  had  made  such  an  investigation.  They  found  that  the 


52  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

ceremonies  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  were  embodied  in 
four  degrees  "intended  to  teach  and  inculcate  principles 
that  lie  at  the  foundations  of  every  great  religion  and  every 
great  state." 


WHAT  MASONS  REPORTED 

Their  report  continued: 

"Our  examination  was  made  primarily  to  ascertain 
whether  or  not  a  certain  alleged  oath  *  *  *  which  has 
been  printed  and  widely  circulated  was  in  fact  used  by  the 
Order  and  whether  *  *  *  any  oath,  obligation  or  pledge 
was  used  which  was  or  would  be  offensive  to  Protestants 
or  Masons.  *  *  *  We  find  that  neither  the  alleged  oath 
nor  any  such  oath  or  pledge  bearing  the  remotest  resem- 
blance thereto  in  matter,  manner,  spirit  or  purpose  is  used 
or  forms  a  part  of  the  ceremonies  of  any  degree  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus.  The  alleged  oath  is  scurrilous, 
wicked  and  libelous  and  must  be  the  invention  of  an  im- 
pious and  venomous  mind.  *  *  *  There  is  no  propa- 
ganda proposed  or  taught  against  Protestants  or  Masons 
or  persons  not  of  Catholic  faith.  *  *  *  \ye  can  fin(j 
nothing  in  the  entire  ceremonials  of  the  Order  that  to  our 
minds  could  be  objected  to  by  any  person." 

The  Searchlight,  official  organ  of  the  Ku  Klux,  contains 
many  articles  that  misrepresent  the  Catholics.  For  in- 
stance, of  Feb.  26,  1921,  The  Searchlight  had  an  article 
which  was  captioned :  "Facts  Gathered  by  the  Knights  of 
Luther  from  the  Washington  Bureau  of  Statistics": 


CHARGES  OF  "KNIGHTS  OF  LUTHER" 

Without  one  word  to  support  them,  the  following  were 
printed  as  "facts": 

"The  National  Democratic  Committee  is  by  majority  a 
Roman  Catholic  body.  It  usually  has  a  Roman  Catholic 
President  and  secretary. 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  53 

"Catholics  influenced  the  national  campaign  which 
elected  Wilson. 

"The  President's  private  secretary  is  a  Roman  Catholic. 

"Over  70  per  cent  of  all  appointments  made  by  President 
Wilson  are  Catholics.  Their  influence  is  so  powerful  it 
compels  the  homage  of  those  in  authority. 

"Five  States  now  have  Catholic  Administrations. 

"Thirty-one  States  have  Roman  Catholic  Democratic 
Central  Committees. 

"Twenty  thousand  public  schools  have  one-half  Catholic 
teachers. 

"Over  100,000  public  schools  now  contribute  a  part  or  all 
of  the  school  tax  to  Catholic  Churches  and  schools. 

"Six  hundred  public  schools  use  Catholic  readers  and 
teach  from  them  the  Roman  Catholic  catechism. 

"Sixty-two  per  cent,  of  all  offices  of  the  United  States, 
both  elective  and  appointive,  are  now  held  by  Roman 
Catholics. 

"New  York,  Chicago,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  Toledo,  St.  Louis,  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco 
and  Boston  now  have  75  per  cent.  Catholic  teachers  in  their 
public  schools. 

"In  all  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  United  States  of 
10,000  or  more  inhabitants  an  average  of  over  90  per  cent, 
of  the  police  force  are  Roman  Catholics. 

Roman  Catholics  are  in  the  majority  of  the  City  Council 
of  10,000  cities  and  towns  of  the  United  States." 


MORE  OF  THE  SAME  STUFF 

The  Searchlight  continues: 

"We  will  now  look  at  the  results  of  Catholic  teaching  on 
vice  and  virtue.  The  history  of  assassins  of  heads  of  Gov- 
ernments in  the  past  is  a  history  of  murderous  Roman 
Catholics.  In  90  per  cent,  of  the  cases  where  criminals  are 
executed  for  crimes  committed,  the  victims  of  the  execu- 
tion have  a  priest  at  their  elbow  to  administer  the  last 
sacrament. 


54  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

"The  man  who  shot  Roosevelt  was  a  Roman  Catholic. 

"The  man  who  shot  President  Garfield  was  a  Roman 
Catholic. 

"The  man  who  shot  President  Lincoln  was  a  Roman 
Catholic. 

"The  plot  that  took  the  life  of  Lincoln  emanated  from 
Roman  Catholic  influence  in  the  house  of  a  Roman  Catholic. 

"Abraham  Lincoln  said,  'I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  prophet 
but,  though  not  a  prophet,  I  see  a  very  dark  cloud  on  our 
horizon,  and  that  cloud  is  coming  from  Rome.  It  is  filled 
with  tears  and  blood.  The  true  motive  power  is  secreted 
behind  the  walls  of  the  Vatican,  the  colleges  and  schools 
of  the  Jesuits,  the  convents  of  the  nuns,  and  the  confes- 
sional boxes  of  Rome,'  and  such  opinions  cost  the  Nation 
his  life. 

"Over  65  per  cent,  of  prison  convicts  of  all  grades  and 
of  all  kinds  of  prisoners  are  Roman  Catholics,  while  less 
than  5  per  cent,  are  graduates  of  our  public  schools. 

"These  statements  are  astounding  when  we  remember 
that  only  about  12  Vi  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population  of 
the  United  States  are  Roman  Catholics,  while  the  other 
per  cent,  are  not." 


CHAPTER  IX 
KU  KLUX  KLAN  AND  THE  MASONS 

Iowa  and  Missouri  Jurisdiction  Grand  Masters 
Issue   Public  Denunciations   Against   the   Klan. 

Promoters  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  brag  that  most  of  its 
members  are  Masons.  Whether  this  is  true  no  one  on  the 
outside  can  tell.  It  is  known,  however,  that  the  kleagles 
or  salesmen,  who  solicit  members  in  a  community  try  to 
play  upon  the  Masonic  spirit  to  help  along  their  game. 
That  this  is  done  with  the  disapproval  of  the  leading  Ma- 
sonic bodies  of  the  country  is  shown  by  the  action  of  the 
grand  commanders  of  the  Iowa  and  Missouri  jurisdictions. 
They  have  issued  public  denunciations  of  the  operations 
and  purposes  of  the  Klan,  especially  that  feature  that  re- 
sorts to  the  masking  of  members  when  they  are  taking  part 
in  Klan  rites.  The  examples  of  Iowa  and  Missouri  are 
being  followed  by  Masons  in  other  states. 

IOWA  GRAND  MASTER'S  STATEMENT 

Amos  N.  Alberson  of  Washington,  Iowa,  grand  master 
of  that  state,  has  directed  a  communication  to  all  Masonic 
lodges  under  his  jurisdiction  as  follows : 

"Whereas,  It  has  become  known  to  your  grand  master 
that  a  certain  'Ku  Klux  Klan'  has  been  and  is  now  organ- 
izing within  this  jurisdiction  an  alleged  'secret  and  invis- 
ible empire';  and, 

"Whereas,  It  is  reported  that  its  organizers  and  agents 
have  stated  and  intimated  to  members  of  our  craft  that 
the  said  'Ku  Klux  Klan'  is  in  effect  an  adjunct  of  Free- 
masonry and  in  accord  with  its  principles  and  purposes; 
and, 

65 


56  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

"Whereas,  Any  such  statement  or  intimation  is  absolute- 
ly false  and  untrue,  in  that  Masonry  can  not  and  does  not 
approve  of  or  ally  itself  with  any  organization  or  move- 
ment, secret  or  public,  that  proposes  to  subvert  or  super- 
sede the  processes  of  orderly  representative  government 
'of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people' ;  nor  one 
that  appeals  to  bigotry  and  endeavors  to  foster  hatred  of 
any  nationality,  class,  religious  faith  or  sect,  as  such. 


THE  SOLEMN  CHARGE 

"Therefore,  I,  Amos  N.  Alberson,  grand  master  of  Ma- 
sons in  Iowa,  do  solemnly  charge  each  and  all  of  the  reg- 
ular Masons  in  Iowa,  now  as  heretofore  when  you  were 
made  a  Mason,  that  'in  the  state  you  are  to  be  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  subject,  true  to  your  government  and  just  to 
your  country;  you  are  not  to  countenance  disloyalty  or 
rebellion,  but  patiently  submit  to  legal  authority,  and  con- 
form with  cheerfulness  to  the  government  of  the  country 
in  which  you  live.' 


CITES  MASONIC  OBLIGATION 

"Furthermore,  I  charge  each  and  all,  that  as  our  fathers 
have  framed  the  truly  Masonic  principles  of  liberty  and 
conscience,  equality  before  the  law,  and  fraternity  among 
men  into  the  constitutions  of  this  nation  and  state,  we  as 
Free  Masons  and  citizens  of  this  republic  are  obligated  to 
perform  our  full  moral  and  civic  duty,  to  promote  and  en- 
force an  orderly  administration  of  justice  and  equity,  act- 
ing openly  that  it  may  be  known  of  all  men." 

Grand  Master  Alberson  further  orders  and  directs  "that 
this  letter  to  the  craft  be  read  aloud  at  the  next  meeting, 
whether  regular  or  special,  of  each  lodge  throughout  this 
jurisdiction ;  that  it  shall  be  made  of  record,  and  due  notice 
of  the  same  circulated  among  the  brethrens,  that  it  may 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  all  Masons  in  Iowa." 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  67 

MISSOURI'S  ACTION  ON  KLAN 

William  F.  Johnson,  grand  master  of  the  Carterlin 
Grand  Lodge  of  Missouri  Ancient -Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons made  this  statement  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
grand  lodge,  which  indorsed  it: 

"As  the  impression  seems  to  prevail  in  some  sections, 
that  the  Masonic  fraternity  is  directly  or  indirectly  as- 
sociated with  or  furthering  this  secret  organization  (Ku 
Klux  Klan),  and  as  I  have  been  asked  on  numerous  occa- 
sions what  relations,  if  any,  our  fraternity  bears  to  such 
secret  society  or  order,  it  is  well  that  the  seal  of  disap- 
proval be  positively  placed  by  this  grand  lodge  upon  this 
secret  organization,  which  assumes  to  itself  the  right  and 
authority  to  administer  law  and  punish  crimes. 

"Nothing  is  more  destructive  of  free  government  than 
secret  control.  The  arraying  of  race  against  race,  color 
against  color,  sect  against  sect  is  destructive  of  peace  and 
harmony,  which  is  the  great  end  we,  as  Free  Masons,  have 
in  view.  We  profess  and  boast  that  we  are  true  to  our 
government  and  just  to  our  country. 

IS  SUBVERSIVE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

"We  can  not,  as  Free  Masons  and  good  citizens,  recog- 
nize the  right  of  any  secret  society  or  combination  of  men 
to  assume  unto  themselves  the  right  to  administer  law  and 
to  inflict  punishment  upon  their  fellow  men.  Such  an  as- 
sumption is  subversive  of  our  republican  institutions,  con- 
trary to  the  great  principles  of  Free  Masonry, 

"An  organization  that  practices  censorship  of  private 
conduct  behind  the  midnight  anonymity  of  mask  and  robe, 
and  enforces  its  secret  decrees  with  the  weapons  of  whips 
and  tar  and  feathers  must  ultimately  merit  and  receive  the 
condemnation  of  those  who  believe  in  courts,  open  justice 
and  good  citizenship." 


CHAPTER  X 

KU  KLUX  KLAN  AND  THE  NEGRO 

Members  of  the  Klan  take  an  oath  to  Bring  about 
White  Supremacy,  notwithstanding  the  Constitu- 
tion, which  guarantees  the  Negro  Equal  Rights. 

Under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  negro 
is  guaranteed  equal  rights  with  all  other  citizens.  When 
the  President  of  the  United  States  is  sworn  into  office  he 
takes  an  oath  to  uphold  the  constitution  and  the  laws 
passed  under  it.  Every  senator,  congressman,  governor 
and  other  important  officer  in  the  United  States  and  in 
each  of  the  states  is  sworn  to  uphold  the  constitution. 

But  the  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  take  an  oath  that 
puts  the  constitution  at  naught.  They  swear  to  bring 
about  "white  supremacy."  Taken  in  conjunction  with  the 
speeches  and  writings  of  their  leaders,  this  oath  shows 
that  the  Klansmen  intend  to  work  together  to  create  strife 
against  the  negro,  to  belittle  him  and  his  family,  his 
churches,  his  business,  his  social  societies  and  other  things 
that  are  dear  to  him.  The  Klan  is  determined  to  put  the 
negro  out  of  business  in  the  United  States  and  to  drive  him 
back  to  Africa. 

As  is  all  other  main  objects — the  warfare  on  Jews,  Cath- 
olics and  foreign  born — the  Klan  intends  to  follow  its  own 
laws  in  dealing  with  the  negro.  The  writings  of  its  leaders 
are  very  plain  on  that  point. 

In  his  oath  the  Klansman  swears: 

"I  swear  that  I  will  most  zealously  and  valiantly  shield 
and  preserve  by  any  and  all  justifiable  means  and  methods 
White  Supremacy 

"All  to  which  I  have  sworn  by  this  oath.  I  will  seal  with 
my  blood  by  Thou  my  witness,  Almighty  God.  Amen." 

68 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  69 

Prominent  lawyers  who  have  examined  this  oath  declare 
that  it  really  is  an  oath  upholding  mob  rule  and  that  any 
time  the  Klansman  is  given  orders  he  will  follow  his  lead- 
ers in  a  crusade  outside  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  that  might  lead  to  serious  trouble  and  bloodshed. 

Chaplain  Ridley  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  has  written  in  The 
Searchlight  on  white  supremacy  as  follows: 

"Back  in  the  days  of  the  reconstruction  the  fathers  gath- 
ered at  the  call  of  the  low,  shrill  whistle  and  rode  into  im- 
mortal fame,  rescuing  a  threatened  civilization  and  mak- 
ing real  once  more  the  White  Man's  Supremacy.  Klans- 
men  of  to-day,  whether  they  assemble  in  the  mountains  of 
Maine,  or  *neath  the  shadows  of  the  great  Rockies,  or  on 
the  plains  of  the  Wonderful  West,  or  amid  the  trailing 
vines  and  wild  flowers  of  Dixie,  meet  to  keep  alive  the 
memory  of  these  men  and  preserve  the  traditions  of  those 
days  when  the  souls  of  men  were  tried  as  if  by  fire." 

In  Texas  a  white  man  who  testified  in  behalf  of  an  ac- 
cused negro — he  merely  told  the  truth  under  oath  as  he 
knew  it — was  tarred  and  feathered  by  masked  men. 

The  Searchlight  has  printed  column  after  column  of  anti- 
negro  stuff,  mostly  under  anonymous  names  or  under  the 
titles  of  organizations  whose  addresses  are  not  given.  One 
such  resolution  adopted  by  the  "Patriotic  Societies  of  At- 
lanta" condemns  Rev.  Ashby  Jones,  a  minister,  for  inviting 
an  honorable  negro  to  an  interracial  meeting  and  for  ad- 
dressing the  negro  as  "mister." 

Here  are  some  of  the  titles  of  articles  in  The  Searchlight, 
showing  its  evident  purpose  of  stirring  up  racial  feelings : 

"Social  Equality  Put  Under  Ban." 

"Negroes  Must  Serve  on  Chain  Gangs  Now." 

"Separate  Cars  for  Negroes." 

"White  Woman  Marries  a  Negro." 

The  Searchlight  condemned  President  Harding  for  ap- 
pointing Henry  Lincoln  Johnson,  a  negro,  as  register  of 
deeds. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  KU  KLUX  KLAN  AND  WOMEN 

Here  is  the  proclamation  issued  by  Imperial  Wizard  Sim- 
mons, making  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Tyler  his  "grand  chief  of 
staff"  to  have  charge  of  the  women's  organization  to  be 
affiliated  with  the  Ku  Klux  Klan : 

"To  all  Genii,  Grand  Dragons  and  Hydras  of  Realms, 
Grand  Goblins  and  Kleagles  of  Domains,  Grand  Titans  and 
Furies  of  Provinces,  Giants,  Exalted  Cyclops  and  Terrors 
of  Cantons,  and  to  all  citizens  of  the  Invisible  Empire, 
Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  in  the  name  of  our  valiant 
and  venerated  dead,  I  affectionately  greet  you : 

"In  view  of  our  Nation's  need  and  as  an  additional  force 
in  helping  on  the  great  work  of  conserving,  protecting  and 
making  effective  the  great  principles  of  our  Anglo-Saxon 
civilization  and  American  ideals  and  institutions,  the  Im- 
perial Kloncilium,  in  regular  session  assembled,  after  de- 
liberate care  and  earnest  prayer,  decided  that  there  shall 
be  established  within  the  bounds  and  under  the  supreme 
authority  and  government  of  the  Invisible  Empire  an  or- 
ganization that  will  admit  the  splendid  women  of  our  great 
national  commonwealth,  who  are  now  citizens  with  us  in 
directing  the  affairs  of  the  Nation.  Which  decision  of  the 
Imperial  Kloncilium  I  have  officially  ratified  after  serious, 
careful  and  devoted  consideration  of  all  matters  and  things 
involved  by  this  move. 

"In  view  of  the  foregoing,  I  hereby  officially  declare  and 
proclaim  that  such  organization  does  now  exist  in  prospect. 
Plans,  methods,  ritualism  and  regulations  of  same  are  now 
in  process  of  formation  and  will  be  perfected  at  an  early 
date  and  officially  announced. 

"I  do  further  proclaim  that  in  order  to  have  the  proper 
assistance  in  the  formation  and  perfecting  of  this  organ- 

60 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  61 

ization,  I  have  this  day  and  date  selected  and  officially  ap- 
pointed Mary  Elizabeth  Tyler  of  Atlanta,  Fulton  county, 
Ga.,  to  be  my  grand  chief  of  staff,  to  have  immediate 
charge  of  work  pertaining  to  said  woman's  organization 
under  my  authority  and  direction. 

"Further  information  will  be  duly  and  officially  com- 
municated from  time  to  time. 

"Done  in  the  Aulic  of  His  Majesty,  Imperial  Wizard, 
Emperor  of  the  Invisible  Empire,  Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan,  in  the  Imperial  City  of  Atlanta,  Commonwealth  of 
Georgia,  United  States  of  America,  on  this>  the  ninth  day 
of  the  ninth  month  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1921. 

"Duly  signed  and  sealed  by  His  Majesty, 

William  Joseph  Simmons, 

"Imperial  Wizard." 


CHAPTER  XH 

ATROCITIES  COMMITTED  IN  THE  NAME  OF  KU 
KLUX  KLAN 

Ku  Klux  Klan  Knights  of  Beaumont,  Texas,  issue 
a  justification  for  taking  the  law  into  Their  own 
hands. 

Confession  that  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  uses  tar  and  feathers 
and  the  lash  to  punish  persons  whose  actions  it  condemns 
is  made  by  the  Klansmen  of  Beaumont,  Tex.  The  Beau- 
mont Ku  Klux  Klan  organization  tarred  and  feathered  Dr. 
J.  S.  Paul  and  R.  F.  Scott  and  later  acknowledged,  under 
its  official  seal,  that  its  members  did  the  job. 

"Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  No.  7,  Beaumont,  Texas," 
admitted  taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands  in  a  state- 
ment dated  July  21,  1921.  This  statement  was  made  to 
the  editors  of  two  newspapers  of  Beaumont.  It  sought  to 
justify  the  "tar  and  feather  party"  and  gave  warning  that 
the  "heavy  hand  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan"  was  waiting  to 
yank  other  persons  from  their  beds  in  case  they  came  into 
its  displeasure. 


SHOW  SIMMONS  MISREPRESENTS 

Grand  Wizard  William  J.  Simmons  has  declared  publicly 
that  the  Ku  Klux  did  not  indulge  in  midnight  raids  on 
defenseless  victims  whom  it  tarred  and  feathered.  He 
has  defended  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  by  ascribing  these  unlaw- 
ful actions  to  imposters  who  use  the  regalia  of  the  Ku  Klux. 
The  Beaumont  incident  proves  that  the  Ku  Klux  not 
only  was  responsible  for  assaults  on  Dr.  Paul  and  Scott, 
but  that  it  boasted  of  its  exploits  with  them, 

62 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  63 

LETTER  ADMITS  USE  OF  TAR 

The  Paul-Scott  "party"  occurred  on  May  8.  Its  details 
were  telegraphed  all  over  the  country.  The  letter  to  the 
two  Beaumont  newspapers  the  following  July  read: 

"Your  publication  since  the  organization  of  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan  in  the  city  of  Beaumont  has  on  various  occasions  pub- 
lished information  concerning  and  pertaining  to  the  affairs 
of  this  orgaization.  We  believe,  as  you  do,  that  a  news- 
paper should  serve  the  best  interests  of  its  constituency 
and  that  all  legitimate  news  should  be  given  the  public 
through  its  columns.  During  the  past  two  months  items 
have  appeared  in  your  paper  relative  to  the  case  of  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan  and  its  connection  with  Dr.  J.  S.  Paul. 

"Now,  that  you  and  the  public  may  be  fully  informed  of 
the  true  facts  in  the  case,  the  Klan  has  assembled  and  here- 
with hands  you  an  intelligent,  true  and  correct  history  of 
the  entire  matter.  The  Klan  suggests  that  this  summary 
of  facts  be  published  in  the  columns  of  your  paper  not 
later  than  Sunday,  July  24,  1921,  and  that  it  be  published 
verbatim,  according  to  the  enclosed  copy,  typographical 
errors  excepted. 

Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan." 


PHYSICIAN  IS  ACCUSED 

The  "intelligent,  true  and  correct  history  of  the  entire 
matter"  was  a  lengthy  statement.  It  accused  Dr.  Paul  of 
being  a  physician  who  for  years  had  sold  whisky  and  nar- 
cotic drugs  and  had  performed  illegal  operations  on  women. 
Because  he  had  political  and  financial  backing  grand  jury 
proceedings  against  him  had  been  squelched. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  1920,  R.  F.  Scott,  who 
lived  in  Deweyville,  Texas  (Scott  was  a  former  member  of 
the  United  States  Marine  corps),  consulted  Dr.  Paul  and 
arranged  for  an  illegal  operation.  The  statement  declares 
the  girl  became  seriously  ill  as  a  result  of  malpractice  on 


64  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

Dr.  Paul's  part  and  was  taken  from  her  residence  to  a  hos- 
pital, where  a  serious  operation  was  performed. 

After  this  occurrence  the  girl  demanded  that  Dr.  Paul 
assist  her  in  defraying  the  extra  expense  due  to  his  negli- 
gence, and  he  offered  her  $500  to  leave  Beaumont.  This 
bargain  he  broke  and  is  accused  of  having  threatened  to 
cause  her  arrest  for  attempted  blackmail,  or  with  death  if 
she  exposed  him. 


MORAL  LAW  ABOVE  WRITTEN 

Her  predicament  was  reported  to  the  Klan  and  the  state- 
ment says  her  cry  was  heard  by  men  who  respect  the 
"great  moral  law  more  than  the  technicalities  of  the  legal 
code." 

The  statement  goes  on : 

"The  eyes  of  the  unknown  had  seen  and  had  observed  the 
wrong  to  be  redressed.  Dr.  Paul  was  wealthy.  His  victim 
was  a  poor  girl.  Between  the  two  stood  the  majesty  of  the 
law,  draped  in  technicalities  of  changes  of  venue,  mistrials, 
appeals,  postponements,  eminent  counsel  skilled  in  the  eso- 
teric art  of  protecting  crime  and  interpreting  laws  in- 
volved in  a  mass  of  legal  verbiage,  the  winding  and  un- 
winding of  red  tape,  instead  of  the  sinewy  arm  of  justice, 
wielding  the  unerring  sword.  The  law  of  the  Klan  is  JUS- 
TICE. 

"Dr.  Paul  was  approached  in  his  office  by  three  men  on 
the  night  of  May  7  and  instructed  to  go  with  them.  He 
was  placed  in  a  waiting  automobile  and  escorted  a  few 
miles  out  of  town.  The  judgment  of  the  Klan  was  read 
to  him  and  charges  were  related  to  him,  none  of  which  he 
would  deny. 


"LASHED,  TARRED  AND  FEATHERED" 

"In  a  cowardly,  whimpering  plea,  he  pleaded  that  others 
were  as  guilty  as  he.    The  lash  was  laid  on  his  back  and 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  65 

the  tar  and  feathers  applied  to  his  body.  He  was  then  in- 
formed of  the  will  of  the  Klan  that  he  should  leave  the  city 
within  forty-eight  hours.  Upon  the  return  of  the  party  to 
Beaumont,  Dr.  Paul  was  discharged  from  an  automobile 
at  the  intersection  of  two  of  the  main  streets  of  the  city, 
that  he  might  be  a  warning  to  all  of  his  ilk  that  decent  men 
and  women  no  longer  wanted  him  in  the  community. 

"Dr.  Paul  complied  with  the  instructions  of  the  Klan 
that  he  leave  the  city  and  returned  for  a  few  days  to  his 
former  home  at  Lufkin.  During  this  time  he  was  constant- 
ly under  the  surveillance  of  the  Klan.  Within  a  few  days 
he  had  surrounded  himself  with  relatives  and  hired  hench- 
men of  his  own  tribe  and  character  and  returned  to 
Beaumont. 


SCOTT  ALSO  TARRED  AND  FEATHERED 

"Scott,  who  had  been  constantly  watched  by  the  Klan, 
whose  number  is  legion  and  whose  eye  is  all-seeing  and 
whose  methods  of  gathering  information  are  not  known  to 
the  alien  world,  was  apprehended  and  punished  in  the  same 
manner  Dr.  Paul  had  been  dealt  with.  He  was  taken  to 
the  woods  and  guarded  until  nightfall.  His  captors  during 
this  time  treated  him  with  kindness  and  consideration. 
They  provided  him  with  food  and  fruit  to  eat  and  ice  water 
to  drink.  During  the  day  he  was  questioned  and  admitted 
all  the  charges  the  Klan  had  accused  him  of.  The  judg- 
ment of  the  Klan  was  that  he  was  to  be  given  ten  lashes 
across  the  bare  back  and  that  he  was  to  be  tarred  and 
feathered. 


EYES  OF  "UNKNOWN"  ON  HIM 

"Scott  left  Beaumont  on  Monday,  July  18,  and  spent  the 
major  portion  of  the  day  in  Orange  parading  the  streets 
and  proclaimed  the  diabolical  lie  that  he  had  been  subjected 
to  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition.  He  posed  to  the  gullible 


66  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

public  and  sensational  newspapers  as  a  patriot  and  a  hero. 
All  these  things  the  eyes  of  the  unknown  have  seen  and 
their  ears  have  heard.  We  can  not  be  deceived  and  JUS- 
TICE will  no  longer  be  mocked." 

The  seal  of  the  Beaumont  Klan  was  attached  to  the  end 
of  the  statement. 

Rev.  Caleb  Ridley,  known  as  the  imperial  chaplain  of  the 
order,  acknowledged  that  the  Klan's  purpose  was  to  set  it- 
self up  as  prosecutor,  jury,  judge  and  sheriff. 

PASTOR  GIVES  WARNING 

On  Aug.  26, 1921,  he  issued  to  the  citizens  of  Dallas  coun- 
ty, Texas,  the  following  warning : 

"To  the  Citizens  of  Dallas  County,  Greetings:  This  or- 
ganization has  caused  to  be  posted  the  following  proclama- 
tion: 

"Be  it  known  and  hereby  proclaimed 

"That  this  organization  is  composed  of  native-born 
Americans  and  none  other. 

"That  its  purpose  is  to  uphold  the  dignity  and  the  au- 
thority of  the  law.  *  *  * 

"That  this  organization  *  *  *  recognizes  *  *  * 
that  situations  frequently  arise  where  no  existing  law  of- 
fers a  remedy. 

"That  this  organization  does  *  *  *  not  countenance 
and  will  not  stand  for  social  parasites  remaining  in  this 
city.  It  is  equally  opposed  to  the  gambler,  the  trickster, 
the  moral  degenerate  and  the  man  who  lives  by  his  wits 
and  is  without  visible  means  of  support. 

"The  eye  of  the  unknown  hath  seen  and  cloth  constantly 
observe  all,  white  or  black,  who  disregard  this  warning. 
^Whatsoever  thou  sowest  that  shall  you  also  reap.'  Regard- 
less of  official,  social  or  financial  position,  this  warning  ap- 
plies to  all  living  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  Klan. 

"This  warning  will  not  be  repeated. 

"  'Mene,  Mene,  Tekel,  Upharsin.' 

"Hereafter  all  communications  from  us  will  bear  the  of- 
ficial seal  of  the  Klan. 

"KNIGHTS  OF  THE  KU  KLUX  KLAN." 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  67 

KU  KLUX  KLAN  SHOOTS  SHERIFF 

The  attitude  of  members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  toward 
officers  of  the  law  was  demonstrated  on  October  1,  1921, 
in  Lorena,  Tex.,  when  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  shot  Sheriff  Bob 
Buchanan  of  McLennan  county,  when  he  attempted  to  stop 
a  parade  of  Masked  Knights. 

Without  getting  an  official  permit  to  hold  the  parade,  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  announced  that  it  would  be  held  at  8 :30  p.  m. 
The  sheriff  notified  the  community  that  the  parade  was 
against  the  law  and  that  he  would  not  allow  it.  The  word 
was  carried  to  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  leaders.  Messages  were 
sent  back  and  forth,  and  the  Ku  Kluxers  tried  to  scare  the 
sheriff  into  a  retreat.  He  refused  to  back  down,  however, 
and  ended  the  negotiations  by  telling  the  Klansmen  that 
they  had  to  obey  the  law  as  well  as  other  citizens. 

The  sheriff  said  there  was  a  law  against  uncertain 
masked  men  who  refused  to  divulge  their  identity.  He 
would  agree  to  the  parade  if  the  names  of  the  masked  men 
were  furnished  to  him.  This  the  Klan  leaders  refused 
to  do. 

The  Klansmen  held  a  council  of  war  at  which  the  sheriff 
was  denounced  for  daring  to  give  them  orders.  They  de- 
cided to  show  the  people  of  Lorena  that  they  were  bigger 
than  the  sheriff  or  the  law  that  he  represented.  The  chief 
of  the  Klansmen  gave  the  order  for  the  parade  to  start. 

With  a  posse  of  citizens  and  deputies,  Sheriff  Buchanan 
met  the  parade  at  the  intersection  of  the  main  streets. 
Thousands  of  persons  were  out  to  witness  the  test  of 
strength  between  the  law  and  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  The 
sheriff  approached  a  masked  Klansman  who  carried  a  fiery 
cross.  He  attempted  to  seize  the  cross.  There  was  a  shot. 
A  bullet  hit  the  sheriff  in  the  right  arm.  A  general  gun 
fight  followed  and  ten  persons  were  injured.  The  Masked 
Knights  hurriedly  departed,  carrying  one  of  their  number 
who  was  wounded. 

Sheriff  Buchanan  is  hailed  as  a  hero  in  Texas  by  the  law- 
aboding  element.  The  United  States  needs  more  public 
officials  like  him — men  with  the  courage  to  stand  by  their 
oaths  of  office. 


68  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

OTHER  OUTRAGES 

Since  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  was  organized  night  outrages  in 
which  masked  men  are  involved  have  increased  to  a  fre- 
quency not  known  in  the  United  States  since  the  years  just 
following  the  Civil  War,  when  the  original  Ku  Klux  Klan 
was  active  in  the  southern  states  against  "carpet  baggers" 
and  Negroes. 

A  murder  was  committed  on  June  9,  1921,  at  Sea  Breeze, 
Fla.,  by  masked  men  who  said  they  were  Ku  Klux  Klan. 
They  took  Thomas  L.  Reynolds  from  his  bed  and  punched 
and  kicked  him.  Then  one  of  the  masked  men  shot  him. 
He  died  later.  Official  investigation  failed  to  involve  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan. 


WIZARD  SIMMONS  DENIES 

In  the  case  of  Paul  and  Scott  in  Beaumont,  Tex.,  an  or- 
ganization claiming  to  be  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  admitted  under 
a  seal  that  it  was  responsible.  In  many  other  instances 
the  masked  riders  have  openly  boasted  that  they  were  Ku 
Kluxers.  In  other  cases  they  have  worn  regalia  like  that 
of  the  Ku  Klux.  Imperial  Wizard  Simmons  has  denied 
that  the  Ku  Klux  is  responsible  for  any  outrages.  Whether 
he  knows  what  he  is  talking  about  probably  will  be  deter- 
mined only  by  a  Congressional  investigation. 

Meanwhile  the  people  of  the  country  have  the  big  fact 
on  which  to  form  their  judgment — namely,  that  since  the 
Ku  Klux  has  extended  its  membership  and  influence  by  in- 
fluencing hundreds  of  thousands  to  get  down  on  their  knees 
and  take  the  oath  of  "white  supremacy,"  bands  of  night 
riders  who  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands  have  been 
carrying  on  these  disgraceful  maurading  "parties"  with  a 
boldness  that  challenges  public  attention. 

In  Daytona,  Fla.,  H.  C.  Sparkman,  an  editor,  carried  on 
a  campaign  against  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  On  June  12,  1921, 
Sparkman  received  by  mail  a  threat  warning  him  that  if 
he  did  not  let  the  Ku  Klux  alone  the  Klan  would  take  up 


KU  KLUX  KLAN  69 

his  case  and  that  he  might  be  killed.  In  Pensacola,  Fla., 
on  July  8,  1921,  a  band  of  men  wearing  white  robes  like 
those  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  in  their  initiation  ceremonies 
appeared  at  the  store  of  Chris  Lochas,  a  restaurant  keeper, 
and  while  the  chief  of  police  was  looking  on  gave  him  a 
written  order  to  leave  town  because  of  certain  charges. 
The  warning  was  signed  "K.  K.  K." 


KU  KLUX  KLANSMAN  KILLED 

In  the  city  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  where  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is 
strongest  a  killing  resulted  from  a  raid  by  masked  men  on 
J.  C.  Thomas,  who  had  a  lunch  room  at  280V£  Decatur 
street.  Thomas  had  received  letters  threatening  him  with 
violence  unless  he  "let  alone"  a  certain  woman  in  his  em- 
ploy. On  March  12,  1920,  four  men  got  Thomas  to  enter 
an  automobile  and  drove  him  to  a  spot  in  a  lonely  neighbor- 
hood. There  they  took  him  from  the  car  and  told  him  that 
he  was  to  be  punished  because  he  had  not  observed  their 
warnings.  When  they  started  to  strike  Thomas,  he  took 
a  knife  from  his  pocket  and  killed  Fred  Thompson  who  was 
later  identified  as  a  member  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan. 

The  case  of  killing  against  Thomas  was  put  before  a 
grand  jury  but  the  jury  refused  to  indict  him.  At  the  in- 
quest into  the  death  of  Thompson,  Homer  Pitts  was  identi- 
fied as  the  driver  of  the  car  in  which  Thomas  had  been  kid- 
napped. Pitts  was  represented  in  the  proceedings  by  At- 
torney W.  S.  Coburn.  In  the  official  list  of  Ku  Kluxers 
there  is  a  H.  R.  Pitts  who  is  a  kleagle  at  Fresno,  Cal.,  and 
a  W.  S.  Coburn  who  is  a  grand  goblin  with  headquarters 
at  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


100  OUTRAGES  IN  TEXAS 

Texas,  where  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  strong,  has  been  the 
scene  of  nearly  100  unlawful  punishments  by  masked  men. 
In  one  case  the  initials  "K.K.K."  were  branded  on  the  fore- 


70  KU  KLUX  KLAN 

head  of  a  negro  who  was  horsewhipped  on  the  charge  of 
having  been  found  in  a  white  woman's  room. 

Something  the  same  treatment  that  was  given  Dr.  Paul 
was  handed  out  to  J.  S.  Allen,  an  attorney  of  Houston,  Tex., 
who  on  April  10,  1921,  was  whisked  from  a  downtown 
street,  driven  to  the  country  and  tarred  and  feathered. 
The  maeked  men  then  took  him  back  to  the  city  and  threw 
him  out  of  the  automobile  into  a  crowd.  He  was  nude  ex- 
cept for  his  coat  of  tar  and  feathers. 


SECRET  SOCIETY  RITUALS 


REVISED  FREEMASONRY  ILLUSTRATED. 

The  complete  and  accurate  ritual  of  the  First  Seven 
Masonic  Degrees  of  the  Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter,  by 
Jacob  O.  Doesburg,  Past  Master  of  Unity  Lodge,  Holland, 
Michigan,  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  with  full  Monitorial  and 
Scripture  Readings  and  the  Secret  Work  profusely  illus- 
trated. The  exact  Michigan  "Work,"  with  a  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Order  and  a  critical  analysis  of  each  degree 
by  President  J.  Blanchard.  Also  the  legal  attestation  of 
the  accuracy  of  the  ritual  by  the  author  and  others. 

Paper  cover  $1.50 

Cloth    2.00 

First  Three  Degrees,  paper 1.00 

Cloth    1.50 

THE  MASTER'S  CARPET; 

By  Edmond  Ronayne,  Past  Master  of  Keystone  Lodge, 
No.    039,   Chicago.     The   work    contains   406  pages,  illus- 
trated with  50  engravings,  and  is  substantially  bound  in 
cloth. 
Price    $1.26 

Explains  the  true  source  and  meaning  of  every  cere- 
mony and  symbol  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  showing  the  basis  on 
which  the  ritual  is  founded.  By  a  careful  perusal  of  this 
work,  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the 
order  can  be  obtained  than  by  attending  the  Lodge  for 
years.  Every  Mason,  every  person  contemplating  becom- 
ing a  member,  and  even  those  who  are  indifferent  on  th« 
subject,  should  procure  and  carefully  read  this  work. 

MAH-HAH-BONE; 

By  Edmond  Ronayne.  Bound  in  fine  cloth,  690  pages, 
135  illustrations. 

Price    $2.25 

Comprises  the  "Hand  Book  of  Free  Masonry"  and 
"Master's  Carpet"  in  one  volume.  The  value  and  con- 
venience of  this  combined  book  will  be  seen  at  once.  As 
the  Master's  Carpet  frequently  refers  by  foot  notes  to 
the  Hand  Book,  and  the  Hand  Book  as  frequently  refers 
to  the  "Carpet,"  by  having  both  books  under  one  cover, 
reference  can  be  made  in  an  instant.  It  is  cheaper;  as 
the  Carpet  at  $1.25  and  the  Hand  Book  at  $1.50  would 
make  $2.75>  while  the  combined  book  sells  in  fine  cloth 
binding  at $2.25 


EZRA  A.  COOK,  Publisher 

(Incorporated) 

26  E*  Van  Buren  St.  Chicago 


SECRET  SOCIETY  RITUALS 


HAND  BOOK  OF  FREE  MASONRY; 

By  Edmond  Ronayne,  Past  Master  of  Keystone  Lodge, 
No.  639,  Chicago.  Latest  Revised  Edition,  with  portraits 
enlarged  to  284  pages,  85  illustrations 

This  work  gives  the  correct  or  "Standard"  work  and 
ritual  of  Masonry;  the  proper  position  of  each  officer  in 
the  Lodge  room,  order  of  opening  and  closing  the  Lodge, 
dress  of  candidate,  ceremony  of  initiation,  the  correct 
method  of  conferring  the  three  degrees  of  "Ancient  Craft 
Masonry,"  Entered  Apprentice,  Fellow  Craft  and  Master 
Mason,  the  proper  manner  of  conducting  the  business  of 
the  Lodge,  and  giving  the  signs,  grips,  pass- words,  etc., 
all  of  which  are  accurately  illustrated  with  85  engravings. 

Paper  cover,  pocket  size $1.00 

Fexible  Cloth,  pocket  size 1.60 

BLUE  LODGE  AND  CHAPTER 

By  Edmond  Eonayne.  Bound  in  fine  Cloth,  604  pages. 
Price  $2.00 

This  book  comprises  the  Hand  Book  of  Free  Masonry, 
which  gives  the  written  and  the  "unwritten"  work  of 
the  three  degrees  of  Blue  Lodge  Masonry,  and  the  com- 
plete work  of  the  four  degrees  of  Chapter  Masoriry,  in- 
cluding the  Royal  Arch  degree.  This  makes  a  compact, 
handy  and  economical  volume. 

REVISED  ILLINOIS  FREEMASONRY,  ILL'D. 

The  complete  and  accurate  ritual  of  the  First  Seven 
Masonic  Degrees  of  the  Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter,  by  a 
Past  High  Priest,  with  all  Monitorial  and  Scripture  Read- 
ings and  the  Secret  Work  fully  illustrated.  The  exact 
Illinois  "Work."  Nearly  400  foot-notes  from  the  highest 
Masonic  authorities.  Complete  work  of  640  pages,  the 
First  Seven  Degrees  comprising  the  Blue  Lodge  and  the 
Chapter  Degrees.  • 

Cloth    $2.00 

First  3  degrees,  cloth.     Price 1.50 

POCBIET  LEXICON  OF  FREEMASONRY. 

By  J.  W.  Morris.  A  reliable  companion  to  the  young 
Mason  on  the  ritual  and  customs  of  the  Order,  as  well  as 
a  memory-aid  to  the  older  brethren.  53  pa^e?,  cloth  bound. 

Price    $1-00 

Paper  covers  50 


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